Western U.S.

1 BP Exploration, with a U.S. Department of Energy grant, will drill a gas-hydrate test about 28 miles west of Deadhorse, Alaska, according to IHS Energy. The #1 Mt. Elbert is planned for Section 30-13n-11e, Umiat Meridian, vertically to about 4,000 ft. in the Milne Point Unit in the northern portion of the Eileen gas-hydrate trend. The well will be drilled from an ice pad at the end of a new 1.5-mile ice road and will not flare any gas that is produced. 2 The #1 Endeavor will look for Tyonek production in Section 3-5s-15w, Seward Meridian, on the Kenai Peninsula near Anchor Point about 12 miles northwest of Homer in south-central Alaska. The nearest well to the Aurora Gas LLC, Anchorage, wildcat is #1 Hansen in the Cosmopolitan Unit. That well flowed oil from Lower Tyonek and Hemlock intervals but was shut in. A directional sidetrack from the original wellbore a year later offered combined production between 600 and 800 bbl. of oil a day from the original wellbore and the sidetrack. The wildcat site also is seven miles west-southwest of North Fork Field, a Tyonek gas producer. 3 EnCana Corp., Calgary, plans a second wildcat in an area about 10 miles north of Sunnyside in eastern Yakima County in south-central Washington. The company will drill its #11-5 Anderson to 14,000 ft. in Section 5-11n-23e using air, fresh water and water-based mud in the 8,000-ft. basalt section, according to IHS Energy. It will use oil-based mud in the section from 8,000 ft. to 14,000 ft. below the basalt. Some 21 miles northeast is EnCana's #1-16 Anderville Farms in Section 6-14n-25e in southwestern Grant County. The company is waiting for a heavy-duty rig to deepen that well. The closest drilling was a 10,665-ft. dry hole approximately nine miles east-northeast. 4 Trendwell West Inc., Bakersfield, Calif., will drill #45X-25 Russell wildcat to an undisclosed depth in Section 25-25s-24e in Kern County, Calif. The wildcat is 5.7 miles north of Rose Field, a McClure pool, and 3.6 miles south of Trico Field, which produces from Mya sand and 5.8 miles southwest of the town of Delano. 5 Approximately 1,000 wells are in the works for Questar Exploration & Production Co., Salt Lake City, if federal authorities approve its infill drilling plans for the Greater Deadman Bench area in the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. The area includes townships 6s to 8s, ranges 20e to 25e, south of Vernal in Uintah County. The area already has 278 oil and water-injection wells that produce from the Green River and another 300 gas wells that produce from Wasatch. It also has 371 miles of roads. If it gets approvals, the company will drill up to 1,020 gas wells and 219 oil wells, build 170 miles of new roads, lay 235 miles of pipe and add other facilities. Among planned wells, 891 would occupy new locations and 348 would be drilled from existing locations. Under the plan, Questar would drill 100 to 120 wells a year for the next 10 years. 6 A 14,000-ft. wildcat will occupy GLNA LLC, Golden, Colo., about 18 miles northeast of Moab, Utah, on the northeastern flank of the Paradox Basin. The company will drill #1 Paradox Basin in Section 16-23s-23e in southeastern Grand County. There is no other well in the township. The nearest production is about 11 miles north-northwest where wells in the Greater Cisco area produce from Cretaceous and Jurassic zones. Some 25 miles southwest, wells in the Long Canyon Field area produce oil from the Pennsylvanian Cane Creek, according to IHS Energy. 7 Forest Oil Corp., Denver, earned a 227-bbl.-per-day discovery from its #1-35 Ostby wildcat about 18 miles north of Bainville in section 35-31n-58e in southeastern Sheridan County in northeastern Montana. The well produced 3,182 bbl. of oil from Mission Canyon (Madison) in 14 days during December, according to state reports. Although the company hasn't released details on completion, it had planned to drill the test to 9,950 ft. The company has staked a west offset to the discovery. The #1-34 Ostby-Fee will be drilled to Bakken at 10,500 ft. as a secondary objective; Mission Canyon is the primary target. Forest also plans a 10,000-ft. southwest offset. 8 A horizontal discovery with an initial potential of 1,542 bbl. of oil and 617,000 cu. ft. of gas a day rewarded Slawson Exploration Co. Inc., Wichita, Kan., about 15 miles northeast of Richey in Richland County, northeastern Montana. The company's #1-16H Bearcat-State is in Section 15-24n-53e and was drilled with three openhole laterals and sidetracks from two of the laterals, all reaching bottomhole locations in the northwestern, southwestern and southeastern corners of the same section. The producing intervals range from 10,561 to 15,306 ft. The company reported an average production of 919 bbl. of oil per day during a 10-day period. The nearest production is 0.75-mile west, also from Bakken. 9 Houston Exploration Co., Houston, plans a Red River and Winnipeg wildcat to 15,300 ft. about nine miles east-northeast of Watford City in western North Dakota. The #12-35 Fancy Butte will be on the southern fringe of the Nesson Anticline in Section 35-151n-97w in northeastern McKenzie County. The closest production is from Madison, Duperow and Silurian in Dimmick Lake Field, more than three miles east. The nearest production from a comparable depth was almost six miles northwest at the now-abandoned #1-7 Becken in Section 7-151n-97w, the discovery well for Elidah Field. That well flowed 1.2 million cu. ft. of gas, 16 bbl. of condensate and 150 bbl. of water a day from Red River between 14,411-65 ft. 10 The Bakken formation is a widespread and hot target in North Dakota as three operators claimed recent new-field discoveries from horizontal wells. Ansbro Petroleum Co. LLC, Denver, drilled #41-21H Ficek in Section 21-141n-96w about eight miles north of Dickinson in southwestern Dunn County. It was completed for 40 bbl. of oil and 63 bbl. of water per day from Bakken between 11,766 and 17,100 ft. The second discovery is the Amerada Hess Corp., New York City, #6-44H Sara G. Barstad in Section 6-154n-94w, Mountrail County, about 13 miles south of the town of White Earth. It was completed for 38 bbl. of oil and 29,000 cu. ft. of gas per day, along with 61 bbl. of water from openhole Bakken between 10,868 and 15,902 ft. The third wildcat discovery to Bakken is #2-11H Points in Section 2-163n-97w about two miles south of the U.S.-Canada border and four miles northeast of Crosby in northeastern Divide County. JMG Exploration Inc., Denver, drilled the discovery, which was completed for 73 bbl. of oil and 5,000 cu. ft. of gas per day from openhole Bakken between 8,247 and12,040 ft. 11 Bill Barrett Corp., Denver, struck gas at its Talon project about 25 miles east-southeast of Shoshoni, Wyo., on the northern flank of the Wind River Basin. The #13-10-36-90 Talon Unit, in Section 10-36n-90w in northeastern Fremont County, flowed 984,000 cu. ft. of gas and 153 bbl. of water a day from five fractured Lower Fort Union zones from 6,700 to 8,564 ft. in the 11,900-ft. well. The company tested the well on a 32/64-in. choke with 387 psi of flowing tubing pressure, according to IHS Energy. 12 Nine exploration wells, all drilled from the same drillpad 24 miles southwest of Meeker in northern Rio Blanco County, Colo., will help ExxonMobil Corp. look for Wastach and Mesaverde gas. The surface location is in Section 28-2s-97w, while bottomhole locations are in sections 20, 21 and 28 of the same township and range. The wells are #297-28 A1 through A2 Freedom Unit about two miles south of Love Ranch Field, and #5 Love Ranch-Fee well in 16-2s-97w. That field produced 1.3 billion cu. ft. of gas between October 2001 and October 2005 from Wasatch and Mesaverde. 13 Denver-based Gunnison Energy Corp. plans a wildcat in Section 18-12s-89w in northwestern Gunnison County, Colo., as it looks for Dakota, Morrison and Entrada pay. The #18-22D Hotchkiss-Federal 12-89 will drill to 9,100 ft. about 15 miles northeast of Paonia. The nearest production was from an abandoned coalbed-methane field that produced from the Mesaverde "B" zone above 2,400 ft. 14 Cuervo Exploration LLC, Wichita Falls, Texas, permitted its third wildcat in an area of eastern New Mexico with no current production. The company's #1 CG-Whetten in Section 26-12n-24e in southern San Miguel County will test formations to Precambrian at 10,000 ft. The well is in an undrilled township 25 miles northeast of Santa Rosa. If Cuervo drills the well, it will be the first in the county in 18 years; the previous well was a dry hole.