WESTERN U.S.

1 Ivanhoe Energy Inc., Vancouver, says it plans to drill to an approximate depth of 20,000 ft. at the #1 Northeast Lost Hills on the company's block in Township 25s-20e MD, Kern County, Calif. Ivanhoe will have a minimum working interest of 47% in the new venture, which will be the company's first deep-gas exploration test in southern San Joaquin Valley. The new project is about 5 miles northwest of the Berkley consortium's #1 East Lost Hills, Section 6-26s-21e MD, an apparent discovery that bottomed at 19,724 ft. in Miocene Temblor and flowed 13.1 million cu. ft. of gas per day on a 20/64-in. choke during an extended test of a 272-ft. perforated interval between 19,370-19,698 ft. Berkley Petroleum Corp., Calgary, operator of the #1 East Lost Hills, says it intends to begin producing the well in December at a rate of 15 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Meanwhile, Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., Bakersfield, reports it plans to resume testing at its #1 Ekho, Section 3-27s-22e MD, Kern County. The 19,085-ft. indicated discovery is the initial test of Project Ekho. Tri-Valley notes preliminary testing of Vedder Sand recovered 48.6-degree oil. Associated gas had a net BTU content of 1,460. However, there was evidence of plugging in the openhole section at 18,343 ft. in the formation, resulting in an unreliable flow test. The hole is to be cleaned out and a liner run prior to further testing. Tri-Valley reports two of the original Canadian partners, with a combined working interest of 17%, elected to drop out of the project. Their interest was immediately picked up by other partners in the project. The whole budget of a little less than #1.03 million has been committed by the partners. 2 Recent announcements by Houston-based Seitel Inc. includes one concerning its wholly owned subsidiary DDD Energy Inc.'s activity in San Joaquin County, Calif. DDD Energy and its partner/operator OXY Resources California LLC, a unit of OXY USA Inc., are planning a drilling program on the Conestrama Project. DDD Energy has collected approximately 250 square miles of 3-D seismic data covering the project. The partners have identified 23 prospects and leads to date within the project area, 15 of which are currently drillable. Drilling at the first two tests is expected to commence right away. 3 Ordovician Gunton is a new producing zone found by Nance Petroleum Corp., Billings, following recompletion of an 11,550-ft. Ordovician Red River well in Montana's Brush Lake Field. IHS Energy Group reports the shallower-pool opener, the #7-1 Ibsen in irregular Section 1-33n-58e, Sheridan County, had an initial pump gauge of 269 bbl. of oil and 80 bbl. of water, with 186,000 cu. ft. of gas, per day. Perforations in Gunton are at 11,084-98 and 11,102-18 ft. 4 Another Montana Red River well, the 12,879-ft. #24-13 Tveit in Sioux Pass Field, Richland County, was recompleted by Choctaw II Oil & Gas Ltd., Houston, flowing 700 bbl. of oil, 490,000 cu. ft. of gas and 225 bbl. of water per day from Silurian Interlake. The development well was gauged on a 16/64-in. choke through perforations between 11,695-11,793 ft. It's in Section 24-25n-57e. 5 Columbus Energy Corp., Denver, reports its #2 Lien is a Devonian Duperow discovery in Section 1-22n-59e, Richland County, Mont. A recompletion of a Mississippian Madison producer in MonDak West Field, the 12,510-ft. well produced 188 bbl. of oil and 103 bbl. of load water over a 24 hr. period from Duperow at about 10,600 ft. Columbus controls 640 acres which are held by production, and the spacing pattern for Duperow is 160 acres per well. 6 Heart Mountain Field in Park County, Wyo., was extended half a mile to the northwest when Enre Corp., San Antonio, completed the #36-1 Enre-Scull Creek flowing 1.7 million cu. ft. of gas and 4 bbl. of condensate per day from Cretaceous Frontier. According to IHS Energy Group, the stepout is producing from four zones between 3,006-79 ft. It's in Section 36-55n-103w. 7 A new producer on the southeastern flank of Jonah Field in Wyoming's Sublette County has been finaled by McMurry Oil Co., Casper, for an initial flow gauge of 10.426 million cu. ft. of gas, 240 bbl. of condensate and 15 bbl. of water per day from Upper Cretaceous Lance. The #15-35 Stud Horse Butte, Section 35-29n-108w, was tested in seven intervals between 8,951-11,574 ft. The company tested the formation on a 16/64-in. choke. 8 Independent Production Co. Inc., Denver, re-entered a shut-in 11,954-ft. Pennsylvanian Minnelusa test, the #1 Gaither in Section 9-47n-73w, Campbell County, Wyo., and completed it in Upper Cretaceous Parkman. The exploratory test yielded 83 bbl. of oil and 17 bbl. of water per day on pump through perforations at 6,551-72 ft. It's three quarters of a mile south of a Parkman producer in Gaither Draw Field. 9 A wildcat being drilled by Oklahoma City independent Gulf Production Corp. near Luckey Ditch Field in Uinta County, Wyo., is nearing 15,300 ft., reports the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal. Gulf's venture, the #16-15 Wasatch National Forest in Section 15-12n-115w, has a projected depth of 16,200 ft. Primary targets are Frontier and Dakota at depths below 15,000 ft. 10 Wyoming's Sweetwater County has a 16,000-ft. wildcat, the #4-16 HSR-Gold Coast, that's being drilled by Camwest Exploration LLC, Denver. and HS Resources Inc., San Francisco, in Section 16-25n-102w. The project, in which Camwest has a 51% working interest, is on the Gold Coast federal unit. IHS Energy Group notes Cretaceous Blair and Muddy are the formations scheduled to be evaluated. 11 Suncor Energy (Natural Gas) America Inc., Calgary, plans to carry out a remote, four-well Cretaceous Mesaverde gas exploratory program on the Fletcher Gulch federal unit in Rio Blanco County, Colo. Two of the tests are projected to 3,400 ft. They are the #1 SH-Fletcher Gulch, Section 32-3n-100w, and #2 SH-Fletcher Gulch, Section 10-2n-100w. Target depth is 3,100 ft. at the #3 SH-Fletcher Gulch, Section 27-2n-100w, and 3,000 ft. at the #4 SH-Fletcher Gulch, Section 9-1n-100w. 12 Southeastern Colorado is to get a remote wildcat, scheduled to be drilled by Liberal, Kan.-based Quinque Operating Co. at the #1-18 Friesen in Section 18-27s-43w, Prowers County. The company plans to evaluate zones through Pennsylvanian Keyes to a depth of approximately 5,800 ft. The drillsite is about 13 miles southeast of Barrel Springs Field and 16 miles north of Vilas Field. 13 Phillips Alaska Inc. has applied with state and federal regulators for approval of its proposed McCovey Unit in the Beaufort Sea. IHS Energy Group notes the unit covers approximately 28,500 acres north of the Prudhoe Bay Unit and west of Cross Island. Phillips, as operator, and Chevron each hold a 50% working interest in the McCovey oil and gas leases. The proposed unit includes four state leases, totaling 20,371 acres, and three federal Outer Continental Shelf leases comprising 8,133 acres. 14 Forcenergy Inc., Miami, says it has successfully installed the Osprey Platform over its Redoubt Shoal Field in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Drilling from the platform, in the northeast quarter of Township 7n-14w, Seward Meridian, is scheduled to commence early in the fourth quarter of this year at the #1 Redoubt Shoal Unit, in which Forcenergy has a 100% working interest. The test is to be drilled to a true vertical depth of 12,500 ft, and will be the first of two tests scheduled to be drilled in the next three months.