1 Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved drilling permits on three ventures put together by the FEX LP subsidiary of Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary. The wildcats, all in the northwestern segment of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, are #1 Aklaq in Section 15-15n-11w, Umiat Meridian; #2 Aklaq in Section 15-15n-11w, Umiat Meridian; and #1 Aklaqvaaq in Section 23-14n-14w, Umiat Meridian. The wells are some 154 miles west of Deadhorse, Alaska. The locations are between 70 miles and 90 miles west-northwest of the Spark, Moose's Tooth, Lookout, Rendezvous and Carbon prospects, which are under development as satellites for Alpine Field. Talisman's wells are part of an 11-well program planned by the company over the next two years, according to IHS Energy. 2 Pioneer Natural Resources Corp., Irving, Texas, took out a permit to drill its #1 Hailstorm wildcat in Section 2-9n-13e, Umiat Meridian, to evaluate Ivishak and Sadlerochit potential off the southern flank of Prudhoe Bay Field. No wells have been drilled to date in the Northeast Storms Unit, which covers some 16,456 acres. Pioneer also plans to drill its Thunderbird prospect in the area by June 2008. The nearest well was a 10,059-ft. dry hole 2.5 miles northwest in Section 13-9n-13e. 3 Oil at an undisclosed formation and depth is the target for #32-1 Santa Fe well in Section 32-26s-20e in Kern County, Calif. Pyramid Oil Co., Bakersfield, Calif., will drill the well some nine miles west of Lost Hills and more than a mile southeast of Beer Nose Field. 4 Venoco Inc., Carpinteria, Calif., will drill a new-field wildcat in search of oil and gas at its #14-1 Sevier in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. The location is in Section 14-31s-21e, about 13 miles west of Ford City and two miles south of Midway-Sunset Field. The company did not disclose the depth of the well, IHS Energy says. 5 A 16,000-ft. wildcat will test a large anticlinal structure along the Uinta Mountain Front in Summit County, Utah, about 30 miles south of Evanston, Wyo. Double Eagle Petroleum Co., Casper, Wyo., will drill #1 Table Top Unit in Section 16-1n-10e on its Christmas Meadows prospect, according to IHS Energy. The well will evaluate Frontier and Dakota sands. The U.S. Forest Service reviewed the Table Top environmental impact statement last year and gave the company permission to begin access-road construction. The proposed well is more than four miles southwest of an abandoned 1984 discovery that was completed pumping 1,063 barrels of oil and 10 barrels of water a day from Thaynes at 5,302-30 ft. It was later completed in Phosphoria and produced for a short time. 6 Questar Corp., Salt Lake City, plans a Green River formation wildcat to 6,850 ft. on the northeastern flank of the Uinta Basin in Uintah County, Utah. The company's #15G-22-7-21 BBS site in Section 22-7s-21e is about 14 miles east-southeast of Randlett. The well is 1.5 miles north of a Wasatch oil discovery that was wrapped into Wonsits Valley Field. 7 Canyon Natural Gas LLC, Billings, Mont., permitted two more remote horizontal wildcats to the Bakken formation about four miles southwest of Opheim in north-central Valley County, Mont. The 11,129-ft. #34-2H Stahl will be drilled in Section 2-35n-40e, and the 11,105-ft. #11-12 Stahl will be drilled in Section 12 in the same township. True vertical depths are 6,654 ft. and 6,633 ft., respectively. The new wells are between 26 and 29 miles north-northwest of Autumn/Lustre Field and 90 miles northwest of the active Bakken horizontal play in Richland County. Canyon plans two more remote horizontal wells to Bakken some 15 miles east-southeast in a nonproducing area of northeastern Valley County. 8 Enid, Okla., independent Continental Resources Inc. drilled a dual-lateral horizontal discovery to Bakken in northern Richland County, Mont. The #1-22H Nola, in Section 22-26n-54e, tested at a rate of 233 bbl. of oil, 126,800 cu. ft. of gas and 95 bbl. of water a day, IHS Energy reports. One lateral reached into Section 15 to the north, while the other remained in Section 22. The well produced 4,665 bbl. of oil, 2.54 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,904 bbl. of water in 20 days in October. 9 Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., Denver, will test Bakken for oil and gas with its #44-1H Bartleson horizontal wildcat about two miles north-northwest of New Town in southwestern Mountrail County, N.D. The well, in Section 1-152n-93w, is some 10 miles east of Antelope Field on the Nesson Anticline. Bakken is one of the pay zones in that field. Closer wells have been dry holes. Whiting plans additional Bakken horizontal wildcats between three and seven miles north-northwest, one in Section 6-153n-92w and another in Section 19-153n-92w. 10 Hunt Petroleum (AEC) Inc., Dallas, plans a multilateral horizontal wildcat to Birdbear (Nisku) in northern Golden Valley County, N.D. Although the well hasn't yet been named, the company asked the North Dakota Industrial Commission for an order creating a 1,280-acre spacing unit for the well in Sections 21 and 22-144n-104w, about four miles north of Sentinel Butte. It later asked the commission to include the spacing unit within Bicentennial Field. If approved, the new unit will be between three and five miles west of Bicentennial, which produces from Bakken, Nisku and Red River. 11 Permits for two remote wildcats on the southeastern flank of the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming were filed by G&H Production Co. LLC, Denver. The wells are about 22 miles south-southwest of Newcastle in a nonproducing area of Weston County. The #1-8 Federal is in Section 8-41n-62w and #1-17A is in Section 17 of the same township. Both wells will evaluate Leo (Minnelusa) zones. The nearest production lies about 10 miles northwest in Finn-Shurley Field and the same distance southwest in Seedy Draw Field. Both fields produce oil from the Turner Sand, and Seedy Draw also produces from Frontier, Muddy and Dakota. The nearest production from Leo is 13 miles east in Plum Canyon Field near the South Dakota border. 12 J-W Operating Co., Dallas, completed a discovery in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming for 561,000 cu. ft. of gas and 43 bbl. of water a day from two fractured Almond (Mesaverde) zones between 13,046 and 13,386 ft. It tested the well on a 12/64-in. choke. The company's #1-27-24-94 Battle Federal is in Section 27-24n-94w, about 24 miles north of Wamsutter in northeastern Sweetwater County. The nearest production was from an abandoned well 1.5 miles southwest. 13 Independent Yates Petroleum Corp., Artesia, N.M., completed a discovery at its #1 Strom-State for an initial 270,000 cu. ft. of gas and 40 bbl. of water a day from Lewis between 7,725-58 ft. and Almond (Mesaverde) between 9,007 and 9,427 ft. The company gauged the well on a 24/64-in. choke. The discovery is on the southeastern flank of the Washakie Basin about seven miles northwest of Baggs in southwestern Carbon County, Wyo. The well in Section 16-13n-92w is about 1.5 miles southeast of the now-abandoned Blue Goose Field opener. 14 A 15,500-ft. wildcat figures in plans by ExxonMobil Corp. to evaluate a major gas play in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado. The #396-24A1 Liberty Unit, about 22 miles north-northwest of Parachute in Section 24-3s-96w in southern Rio Blanco County, will look at Wasatch and Mesaverde formations. The well will be drilled within a mile west of Douglas Creek (Green River) production shallower than 2,800 ft. in Piceance Creek South Field. The major recently drilled #T52X-29G Independents Unit discovery about 3.5 miles west-southwest flowing 1.02 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,461 bbl. of water a day from Mesaverde. 15 Dolphin Energy Corp., Denver, permitted a wildcat to look at Williams Fork and Iles (Mesaverde) gas potential to 10,217 ft. in a lightly drilled and nonproducing area of the Piceance Basin almost two miles east of Rifle, Colo. The #15-32D Mulvihill is in Section 32-5s-92w in Garfield County about four miles north of Mamm Creek Field, which produces from Wasatch and Mesaverde. 16 Huntington Energy LLC, Oklahoma City, has asked for a permit to drill its #1 Mick, a 5,000-ft. wildcat aimed at Morrow gas on southeastern Colorado. The well, in Section 13-22s-48w in northeastern Bent County, is on the southern end of the Las Animas Arch and two miles north of an abandoned Morrow producer in Beta Field. That well produced 114.6 million cu. ft. of gas between March 1977 and November 1987, according to IHS Energy.

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