1 Petro-Canada (Alaska) Inc., Calgary, will drill four wildcats during the next three years in the northwestern section of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, about 60 miles southeast of Barrow. The proposed program in the area of the Chipp and Topagoruk Rivers will involve building 26 miles of ice road, 193 miles of snow roads, two 5,000-ft. ice airstrips and well pads each year from 2007 through 2009, according to IHS Inc. The Petro-Canada group submitted $10.48 million in high bids for 48 tracts in the area last year.

2 The Kupcake wildcat will test state waters off the northern coast of Alaska in Foggy Island Bay in the Beaufort Sea under a proposal by Savant Alaska LLC, Denver. It will use ice and snow roads from Endicott to the site, which lies in 14 ft. of water near the Boulder Patch in Section 29-11n-18e, Umiat Meridian. The company plans to drill to 11,000 ft. to test the Kemik formation. The closest production is several miles east at the discovery well for Liberty Field, which contains estimated reserves of 120 million bbl. of oil.

3 Energy Operations Nevada LP, Tulsa, Okla., plans three wildcats about 80 miles southwest of Ely in Nye County, Nev. The three Railroad Valley wells in Township 5n-55e are the 7,200-ft. #1 Able Springs in Section 5; the 7,200-ft. #2 Able Springs in Section 8; and the 6,500-ft. #3 Able Springs in Section 7. The closest production comes from Grant Canyon Field more than 15 miles northeast. That field has produced more than 20 million bbl. of oil from Guilmette and Devonian Simonson. Trap Spring Field, which produces from Tertiary Garrett Ranch volcanics, is more than 21 miles north-northeast.

4 Elk Resources Inc., Denver, permitted its #3-41 Ouray Valley-Federal as a 14,500-ft. wildcat to evaluate Mesaverde zones in Section 3-6s-19e, slightly more than a mile northeast of Fort Duchesne in western Uintah County, Utah. The closest production comes from the discovery well for Gusher Field, reports IHS Inc. That 1950 well tested for 365 bbl. of oil a day on pump from Green River between 8,699 and 8,950 ft. and produced 79,515 bbl. of oil, 3.75 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,718 bbl. of water through August last year. Elk staked another 14,500-ft. wildcat some 2.5 miles southeast of the newest planned test and a 15,000 wildcat three miles northeast.

5 Another Utah Hingeline wildcat is in the works for Petro-Hunt LLC, Dallas. It plans to drill #31B-1-1-Lamb Trust to 14,700 ft. in Section 31-15s-3e to test Jurassic Navajo sand. The location is about a mile south of the town of Wales in western Sanpete County. The nearest production is from Covenant Field, the field that opened the Hingeline trend, some 50 miles south-southwest in Sevier County. Petro-Hunt's new well is a northeast offset to a dry hole drilled last year. The company is drilling another wildcat some six miles south-southwest.

6 A third discovery rewarded Delta Petroleum Corp., Denver, at a wildcat in the northern Paradox Basin about seven miles north of Green River in western Grand County, Utah. The #32-42 Greentown-State in Section 32-22s-17e tested for 2 million cu. ft. of gas and 500 bbl. of condensate a day from eight of 12 pay intervals in the well, which was drilled to the Paradox formation at 9,800 ft. The company estimated proved reserves in the perforated zones at 5.8 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent.

Some seven miles north-northwest Delta tested 4.5 million cu. ft. of gas with 125 bbl. of condensate a day in production tests from two of 12 pay zones at its #36-11 Greentown-State. It estimated proved reserves of 2.l7 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent.

A third wildcat lies 16 miles east of #32-42-Greentown-State. Production tests on that well, #25-12 Salt Valley-State, hadn't been completed but the company calculated reserves at 200,000 bbl. of oil. Delta plans a broad program around all three wells.

7 ST Oil Co., Denver, produced oil on a drillstem test of Devonian Winnipegosis at its #2-10 Picard-Devin discovery in Section 10-29n-58e in eastern Roosevelt County, Mont. The well, about 10 miles north-northeast of Bainville, recovered 703 ft. of highly gas-cut mud, 470 ft. of highly gas- and mud-cut water cushion and 2,011 ft. of highly gas-cut oil and 61 ft. of water between 11,681 and 11,708 ft. During testing, gas flowed to the surface at rate of about 46,000 cu. ft. a day. The company planned to drill the well to 12,700 ft. The closest Winnipegosis production is four miles south-southwest, where the Snake Creek Field discovery well has produced 51,978 bbl. of oil, 42.7 million cu. ft. of gas and 99,423 bbl. of water since 1997.

8 Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp., a subsidiary of Calgary-based Enerplus Resources Fund, applied for a permit for the first horizontal Bakken exploratory well in a nonproducing township about 12 miles south-southeast of Poplar in Section 2-25n-51e in Richland County, Mont. The unnamed wildcat will drill to 12,645 ft. (8,287 ft. true vertical depth). The nearest drilling in the township resulted in two dry holes five miles south-southwest. The closest Bakken production is two miles north-northeast at the Enerplus #26-16H Boulder-Stone discovery, completed in 2004 for 172 bbl. of oil, 81,000 cu. ft. of gas and 237 bbl. of water a day.

9 Calgary-based Ptarmigan Lands LP has asked for a permit to drill a remote wildcat in Section 16-2n-25e about eight miles north of Billings in western Yellowstone County, Mont. The #3 Bar Diamond-State is in a nonproducing township more than 18 miles northeast of the abandoned Laurel Field, a Dakota, Muddy and Greybull producer. In 2005 in the same township, a well tested to the Pryor sand section of Lower Cretaceous Cloverly at 3,993 ft. and found slight gas shows in Rierdon from 3,255-76 ft.

10 Brigham Oil & Gas LP, Austin, Texas, has registered a Bakken horizontal discovery in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. The #8-17 1H Erickson wildcat in Section 8-154n-102w, about eight miles west of Williston in southwestern Williams County, flowed 156 bbl. of oil, 118,000 cu. ft. of gas and 125 bbl. of water a day from a fractured Bakken lateral from 10,856 to 19,634 ft. Brigham tested the well on a 28/64-in. choke.

11 A wildcat turned into a 280-bbl., 150,000-cu.-ft.-of-gas-a-day discovery for Burlington Resources Oil & Gas LP, recently acquired by ConocoPhillips, Houston. The #1-5H Jensen in Section 5-146n-95w, in western Dunn County, N.D., produced from two openhole Bakken laterals.

12 A Billings Nose discovery tested for 296 bbl. of oil, 225,000 cu. ft. of gas and 127 bbl. of water a day for Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., Denver. The #14-12H Federal horizontal Birdbear (Nisku) well in Section 12-143n-103w, about 22 miles north-northeast of Sentinel Butte in northeastern Golden Valley County, N.D., produced from two openhole horizontal laterals. The well logged Nisku at a 10,785-ft. vertical depth.

13 Permits were issued to Pacific Energy Resources Ltd., Long Beach, Calif., for its second and third wildcats on its Pacific Creek prospect about 45 miles north of Rock Springs in southeastern Sublette County, Wyo. The #7-21 Pacific Ranger is in Section 21-27n-103w in the Green River Basin. It's about a mile southwest of the company's #6-15 Pacific-Maverick in Section 15 and about 2.5 miles east of its #15-18 Pacific-Paladin in Section 18. The wells are projected to 16,000 ft. to the Rock Springs member of Mesaverde.

14 Yates Petroleum Corp., Artesia, N.M., completed a discovery in two Mesaverde intervals at its #1 Barrel Springs-State. The eastern Washakie Basin wildcat in Section 16-15n-93w in southwestern Carbon County, Wyo., tested flowing 2.5 million cu. ft. of gas, 20 bbl. of condensate and 17 bbl. of water a day. The company fractured the Almond from 9,819-68 ft. and from 9,922 to 10,161 ft. with 1,500 psi of flowing tubing pressure.

15 Petroleum Development Corp., Bridgeport, W.Va., received permits for three wildcats as it continues an aggressive campaign in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in northeastern Colorado. The wells are about 11 miles north and northeast of Strasburg in Adams County, and all will test Codell, Niobrara, D sand and J sand. The #42-25C Bradbury, projected to 6,740 ft., is in Section 25-2s-61w about two miles north of Big Bend/Barrel Ranch Field, a D- and J-sand producer.

The second wildcat is #41-15 Linnebur Farm in Section 15. The third is the #11-3 Dayrymple, a 7,290-ft. well in Section 3-2s-62w about a half mile southeast of the opener for Kettle Field. That field produces from D sand.

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