1 Traverse City, Mich.-based West Bay Exploration Co. has completed a 4,875-ft. delineation test in southern Michigan’s Calhoun County, reports IHS Inc. The #1-26 Oberlin flowed at an initial rate of 150 bbl. of oil, 18,000 cu. ft. of gas and 230 bbl. of water per day. The well was drilled in Section 26-1s-5w, Lee Township. It produces from Black River at 4,772-82 ft. It’s a quarter-mile south of West Bay’s #1-23 Mullett, completed in 2007 as a Trenton-Black River discovery. That discovery flowed 160 bbl. of oil and 80,000 cu. ft. of gas per day, with no water, from an interval between 4,697 and 4,747 ft. West Bay followed that with a confirmation well, #2-23 Mullett, which produced 200 bbl. of oil and 60,000 cu. ft. of gas daily. West Bay’s wells are a mile north and northeast of Trenton and Black River oil production on the northern end of Albion-Scipio Field.

2 Radnor, Pa.-based Penn Virginia Oil & Gas Corp. will drill its #1-34 Litteken et al. in Section 34-14n-9e, Coles County, Ill., about six miles southwest of the town of Hindsboro. The 3,100-ft. wildcat will target Trenton. Warrenton-Borton Field produces from Pennsylvanian approximately 11.3 miles west.

3 The #1 Lake Anita Comm will target oil in Devonian in Illinois’ Effingham County. The 3,999-ft. wildcat is in Section 26-8n-5e, about 2.8 miles west of the town of Effingham. Addison, Texas-based MDM Energy Inc. will spud the well about 1.5 miles southwest of Wildcat Field, which produces from an unknown formation.

4 Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. has scheduled a pair of 2,100-ft. Devonian wildcats for Indiana’s Dubois County. The #1-22H Schmitt is in Section 22-1s-6w about 7.4 miles west of the town of Jasper. The well is 0.5-mile north of White Sulphur Springs Field, which produces from Paoli. The #1-24H Begle is in Section 24-3s-5w, about 3.1 miles west of the town of Ferdinand. St. Henney Field is the nearest production about a mile southwest of the site. Noble has an active New Albany shale program in Indiana.

5 Evansville, Ind.-based Vigo Coal Sales LLC permitted its #1-28 Marchand in Section 28-3s-9w in Indiana’s Gibson County. The 1,000-ft. wildcat will target Pennsylvanian about 2.6 miles southwest of the town of Mackey. Wheatonville Consolidated Field is 1.5 miles west-northwest.

6 New York’s Allegany County is the site of #1 R&B Hinz. The 7,485-ft. wildcat targets Theresa gas. The Bridgeport, W.Va.-based operator Petroleum Development Corp. has drilled the well to total depth and is holding the hole tight, says IHS Inc.

7 A couple of Black River Lime tests have been staked in Cayuga County, N.Y., by Ansbro Petroleum Co. LLC. The Denver-based independent plans to drill #1 Willet Hargett in Section G, Moravia Quad, Genoa Township, as a directional well to a true vertical depth of 6,304 ft. The #1 Cotton-Hanlon Willet will be drilled in the same section, quad and township. That directional test is scheduled to a true vertical depth of 6,325 ft.

8 Oklahoma City-based Quest Resource Corp. has acquired 78,000 net acres of properties from Houston-based Petro­Edge Resources, and 67,000 acres of these are prospective for Marcellus shale. The purchased includes approximately 41,000 net acres in Ritchie, Wetzel and Lewis counties, W.Va.; approximately 22,000 net in Lycoming County, Pa.; and 3,000 net in Steuben County, N.Y. Additionally, Quest has farmed into 30,000 net acres in Potter County, Pa., for a one-year period. This acreage is also within the Marcellus fairway.

9 BLX Inc., Kittanning, Pa., plans three 5,000-ft. wells in Allegheny County, Pa. The #1-57 John A. Hammerman is in Section G, Curtisville Quad, West Deer Township. The company has also scheduled #2-132 Hall, in Section C, New Kensington West Quad, Fraser Township, and #1-89 R&B Perkoski in Section D, McKeesport Quad, Lincoln Township.

10 Clearfield County, Pa., is the site of a pair of wells staked by Mid East Oil Co. The Indiana, Pa.-based operator will drill its #1 Crown Crest in Section A, Glen Richy Quad, Lawrence Township, and its #2 Crown Crest in Section 1 of the same quad and township.
Both wells are within three miles of Lumber City Field, an Upper Devonian pool.

11 State College, Pa.-based Rex Energy Corp. has completed fracture stimulation of its second Marcellus shale vertical well in western Pennsylvania. To date, the well has flowed back approximately 75% of its frac fluids and the company reports it is encouraged by initial production tests. Rex has 57,000 net acres of land prospective for Marcellus. It has three permitted locations in the vicinity of New Alexandria Field in Westmoreland County, reports IHS Inc.

12 West Virginia’s Calhoun County is the site of a Devonian well drilled by Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. The #2 Dye, in Center District, Grantsville Quad, reached a total depth of 6,327 ft. and was cased.

13 Atlas Energy Resources plans to drill at least 150 vertical Marcellus shale wells by the summer of 2009, reports parent Atlas America. It has also begun a horizontal Marcellus program. It expects to drill at least two dozen horizontal wells in the shale by the end of 2009.

14 Akron, Ohio-based First Energy Generation Corp. has scheduled its #1 MRCSP-Fegenco to be drilled in Section 35, Businessburg Quad, about 1.4 miles southwest of Moundsville, W.Va., in Belmont County. The well is projected to evaluate Clinton sand at a total depth of 8,250 ft. An unnamed field produces from Berea about 6.4 miles southwest of the site.

15 Atlas Energy Resources reports it has drilled or participated in four successful horizontal wells in the Chattanooga shale in eastern Tennessee. Initial results indicate that horizontal Chattanooga wells, with 3,000-ft. laterals, can be drilled and completed for approximately $1.1 million, and are capable of stabilized production into a pipeline of between 300,000 and 500,000 cu. ft. per day, according to the company. Atlas has 105,000 net acres in the Chattanooga play. It plans a two-rig horizontal drilling program in the shale, which is found at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 ft. and attains 80 to 200 ft. of thickness.

16 An exploratory test has been scheduled for the central portion of Blount County, Ala., approximately a mile south of the town of Cleveland. Houston-based GeoMet Inc. has permitted the 4,100-ft. wildcat in Section 20-12s-1e. The company is also testing its #3 Fallin 30-07 in Section 30-12s-1e that was drilled to a total depth of 3,705 ft. in Chattanooga shale. The company’s #30-03-02 Wittmeier was tested almost 0.33-mile northwest in December with an initial potential of 566,000 cu. ft. of gas and 10 bbl. of water per day from Paleozoic.

17 Laurel, Miss.-based Venture Oil & Gas Inc. has staked its 14,400-ft. #1 Uriah Land et al. 28-12 in Section 28-5n-5e. The wildcat will target Smackover in the southwestern portion of Monroe County, about 12 miles southwest of Frisco City, Ala. The nearest production to the proposed site is about two miles south-southwest in Waller Creek North Field, which has yielded 130,672 bbl. of oil, 62 million cu. ft. of gas and 57 bbl. of water between 1990 and 2007.

18 An offshore Alabama wildcat has been scheduled more than four miles south of the town of Gulf Shores in Baldwin County. Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, plans to target the Norphlet with its #1 OCS G27973 from the southeastern corner of irregular Mobile Block 830. The wildcat is in 44 ft. of water on the Flying Squirrel prospect. The only previous recovery on Block 830 is about two miles west of the proposed site. There, #1 OCS G06845 was completed in 1989 flowing 1.39 million cu. ft. of gas per day from Miocene at 1,580-96 ft. The lone producer recovered 373.54 million cu. ft. of gas through 2005. The closest Norphlet production comes from one-well Mobile Block 872 Field another four miles west-southwest. That well, #A-1 OCS G06850, has produced 45.3 billion cu. ft. of gas and 285,146 bbl. of water since 1996. Its Norphlet interval—22,598 to 22,691 ft.—yielded 268 million cu. ft. of gas and 2,035 bbl. of water in March, reports IHS Inc.

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