1 Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc., Irving, Texas, is ramping up its Oooguruk Field development with staging and pig-launcher pads and a water-injection flowline. The field anticipates an offshore island in the Colville River Delta in Section 11-13n-7e, Umiat Meridian, with an onshore tie-in. It also plans two camps, communications towers, a hangar and a warm-up shack, according to IHS Energy. Pioneer has the proposal before Alaska authorities for approval.



2 Yolo County, Calif., provides the site for three new-field wildcats planned by Orchard Petroleum Inc., Ventura, Calif. All three are projected to undisclosed gas targets in Township 12n-1e. The #1-18 South Buckey is in Section 8, about 12.2 miles southeast of Arbuckle Calif., and less than a mile southeast of Howells Point Field. The company's #1-8 South Champlain, also in Section 8, is 12.5 miles southeast of Arbuckle and a mile south of Howells Point Field. The third well is #1-16 Mount Baldy in Section 16. That well is 13.7 miles southeast of Arbuckle and 1.4 miles southeast of Howells Point Field.



3 Renaissance Petroleum Co. LLC, Houston, will drill a couple of wildcats seeking in Section 13-1n-22w in Ventura County, Calif. The depth or target formation was not disclosed. Both the #2 Vivian Rosenmund and #3 Vivian Rosenmund will be drilled from the same location 3.8 miles east of Port Hueneme and less than 0.75-mile southeast of Oxnard Field, a Sespe producer.



4 The state of Nevada issued a drilling permit for Reno-based Eagle Exploration Inc.'s #2 Rio Blanco, a 2,500-ft. wildcat planned for northeastern Nye County, Nev., in Section 31-10n-62e in the White River Valley. The site is nearly 25 miles from the nearest production, in Eagle Springs Field in Railroad Valley. That field produces from Sheep's Pass. The nearest attempt was a 4,092-ft. dry hole 0.75-mile north.



5 Tierra Nevada Exploration Partners LP, New York, will aim for oil at an 8,500-ft. wildcat in Section 10-8n-57e, northeastern Nye County, Nev. The #1 Golden Eye will be drilled about 60 miles southwest of Ely in Railroad Valley. The nearest production is in Kate Spring Field, a Pennsylvanian Ely and Devonian Guilmette field more than a mile northeast, but that field produces at depths shallower than 5,000 ft. The wildcat is six miles southeast of Trap Spring Field, which produces from Garrett Ranch Tertiary volcanics at depths shallower than 4,600 ft.



6 Five wildcats will reach for Wasatch and Mesaverde gas at 10,500 ft. in the Uinta Basin of Utah for Houston Exploration Co., Houston. In Uintah County, the company will drill #11-13-5-20 Twelve Mile Wash in Section 13-5s-20e, #1-15-5-20 Twelve Mile Wash in Section 15-5s-20e and #4-33-5-21 North Horseshoe in Section 33-5s-20e. These are two to three miles northeast of abandoned Twelve Mile Wash Field's discovery well, which pumped 97 bbl. of oil and 21 bbl. of water from Green River at 6,956-60 ft. when it was drilled in 1967. It produced a cumulative 10,977 bbl. of oil and 7.18 million cu. ft. of gas.



7 Elk Resources Inc., Denver, plans two deep tests to Mancos on the northern flank of the Uinta Basin. The #5-32 Aurora-Federal will be drilled to 15,600 ft. in Section 5-7s-20e in western Uintah County, Utah, on the Aurora Deep Federal Exploratory Unit. The nearest production is Uinta gas above 4,000 ft. in Brennan Bottom Field, more than two miles southeast. Elk completed two wildcats as Wasatch oil producers late last year some three to four miles southeast. According to IHS Energy, Elk's other wildcat is five miles southeast of the first test. This well, #26-33 Aurora-Federal, is in Section 26-7s-20e. The company also has staked a location at #13-16 Rogers, a mile west of the Aurora-Federal well.



8 Denver-based Orion Energy Partners LP brought in its #29-31H Moose Falls as a horizontal discovery in northeastern Richland County, Mont. The wildcat, drilled 10 miles north-northwest of Fairview, pumped an initial 70 bbl. of oil and 178 bbl. of water a day. The well, in Section 29 of partial Township 26n-59e, produces from an open-hole horizontal lateral in Ratcliffe from 9,327 to 13,290 ft. The true vertical depth is 9,078 ft. The company reports the well found a stratigraphic trap with solution gas drive and minor water drive. Cattails Field, which also produces from Ratcliffe, is 1.5 miles south.



9 BMB LLC, Bayfield, Colo., plans a wildcat in a nonproducing township in central Musselshell County, Mont. The unnamed well is scheduled to 2,000 ft. in Section 36-9n-28e, about 19 miles east-northeast of Roundup. The closest production is from Amsden in Delphia Field some six miles west. Only two wells have been drilled in the township. Both were dry holes.



10 A discovery rewarded Murex Petroleum Corp., Aurora, Colo., when it drilled its #28-33H LeAnn Rae dual-lateral horizontal well on North Dakota's Nesson Anticline. The first lateral in the well, drilled in Section 33-157n-95w in eastern Williams County, extended south from 9,041 to 15,432 ft. with a true vertical depth of 9,639 ft. The second lateral reached northwest from 9,971 to 15,781 ft. to a bottomhole location in Section 28. True vertical depth was 9,545 ft. Together the two laterals tested at 302 bbl. of oil and 250,000 cu. ft. of gas a day with no water. The discovery, immediately southwest of Tioga, is nearly a mile southeast of Midway Field, which gets its production from Devonian and Silurian intervals.



11 Zenergy Inc., Tulsa, Okla., brought in a discovery with its #1-36H Lewis horizontal wildcat in Section 36-152n-104w in northwester McKenzie County, N.D. That Briar Creek Field discovery, about seven miles northeast of Fairview, Mont., tested for 272 bbl. of oil a day from an open-hole section of Mission Canyon (Madison) from 9,107 to 14,859 ft. with a bottomhole location in the same section. The well cost $2.5 million to drill and complete and should pay out within a year. It produced at an average rate of 355 bbl. of oil and 138 bbl. of water a day during its first seven days online. The company calculated 2.13 million bbl. of oil in place and anticipates a 20% recovery for 425,850 bbl.



12 A campaign in the Big Horn Basin of northern Wyoming involves Patriot Exploration Co. Inc., New York, N.Y., and Bill Barrett Corp., Denver. Under the area-of-mutual-interest agreement, Patriot joined Bill Barrett in exploration of more than 160,000 net acres in the central part of the basin and Patriot acquired an additional 18,000 adjacent acres from Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, Texas. Patriot will own a fourth interest in all leases and in drilling and development for a commitment of $14.5 million. According to Patriot, the Big Horn Basin is one of the only remaining Laramide basins in the Rocky Mountains with no basin-centered gas production.



13 Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. posted a successful test at its #33-19-36-86 Bullfrog Unit in Section 19-36n-86w in western Natrona County, Wyo. The Lakota formation well tested at 6.9 million cu. ft. of gas a day with no fluids from a fractured zone between 19,260-82 ft. The well is off the southeastern flank of Waltman Field, about a mile south-southeast of the company's #15-18 Bullfrog Unit.



14 Two wildcats on the Cambridge Arch of southwestern Nebraska will test Lansing-Kansas City for Kaler Oil Co., Gainesville, Texas. The #4-27 Sutton is a 4,500-ft. test about 10 miles southeast of Wauneta in Section 27-4n-35w in northwestern Hitchcock County. The nearest production is almost 2.5 miles east-northeast in Bishop Field. The company completed #6-24 Richards in that field a year ago pumping 31 bbl. of oil a day from Lansing-Kansas City. Two and a half miles northeast, Kaler, using its Rig #1, is drilling a 4,400-ft. Lansing-Kansas City test at #2-14 Sampson in Section 14-4n-35w.



15 Edward Mike Davis LLC, Houston, permitted four wildcats to kick-start the first drilling campaign in Elbert County, Colo., since early 2000. The four wells, in Section 12-6s-60w in the southern Denver-Julesburg Basin, will test D and J sands to 6,500 ft. The wells are the #22-12, #32-12, #23-12 and #33-12 Cowell in locations approximately eight miles south-southeast of Peoria Field. That field has produced some 12.8 million bbl. of oil, 19 billion cu. ft. of gas and 42.8 million bbl. of water from J Sand since 1970. It still produced 360 bbl. of oil, 2.6 million cu. ft. of gas and 10,118 bbl. of water last March. The company has another four-well campaign planned about two miles north in Section 36-5s-60w in southeastern Arapahoe County, but it hasn't yet received permits to drill.

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