1 Two wildcats are planned for north central California in adjoining Sacramento and Yolo counties. Rosetta Resources Operating Co. LP, Denver, will drill #1 Lopes Transamerica in Section 27-5n-5e, Sacramento County, to an undisclosed depth in search of Upper Cretaceous gas. The proposed wildcat is 6.2 miles west of Galt, and nearest production is 0.33-mile northeast in Thornton Field, which produces from the Mokelumne. Denali Oil & Gas Manage­ment LLC, Houston, plans to drill #21-1 Knaggs in Section 21-10n-3e in search of gas in an unknown formation.

The wildcat is located 6.5 miles east of Woodland, Calif., in Yolo County. Nearest production is 1.5 miles west where Upper Cretaceous gas is produced in an unnamed field.



2 CPC Minerals LLC, Eden, Utah, was granted a permit to drill #17-CPC Minerals LLC in Section 17-3s-43e in southern Bonneville County, Idaho, about 20 miles south-southwest of Swan Valley, giving Idaho another turn in getting into the oil and gas business after 20 years. The well is projected to 11,000 ft. to evaluate Jurassic Twin Creek lime and Nugget sand. The project is in an undrilled area on the Idaho salient of the Overthrust Belt about 40 miles southwest of Jackson, Wyo. Nearest production is about 50 miles east-northeast in Game Hill Field in Wyoming's Teton County, which in 1977 produced 725,000 cu. ft. a day during completion before being shut-in, reports IHS Inc.



3 Berry Petroleum Co., Bakersfield, Calif., plans a second wildcat in a nonproducing township in the Lake Canyon area of the Uinta Basin, about 12 miles southwest of Duchesne, Utah. The #1-12D-57 LC-Fee is in Section 12-5s-7w, southwestern Duchesne County. It will evaluate oil zones in the Green River at a true vertical depth of 4,840 ft. Nearest production is over three miles southeast in Brundage Canyon Field. Berry's new well is 0.5-mile east-northeast of its first location in the nonproducing township, although no activity has been reported at that site.



4 Utah Great Eagle LLC, Anchorage, plans a 10,000-ft. exploratory test on the Utah Hingeline about four miles southeast of Sigurd. It will drill #15-1 Utah Great Eagle-Federal to Jurassic Navajo in Section 15-23s-1w in Sevier County, over a mile east of Covenant Field, which was opened in May 2004. The field's total combined production for several wells is 3,587,018 bbl. of oil.



5 Coastal Petroleum Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bermuda-based Coastal Caribbean Oils & Minerals Ltd., plans a remote 2,400-ft. wildcat in Montana's Valley County. It will drill #1-19 Federal in Section 19-36n-38e to target a number of Cretaceous gas zones in a nonproducing part of northeastern Montana, about 18 miles west of Opheim. The wildcat will evaluate Judith River, Eagle, Niobrara and Phillips. The undrilled township is about 26 miles northeast of shallow Cretaceous gas production in the Bowdin Dome area. Production also occurs in Lustre Field, a Madison oil pool, about 42 miles northwest. Coastal staked its 6,100-ft. #7-16 State about 10 miles west, although no activity has been reported there. Coastal currently has 137,163 net acres under lease in the area, according to IHS Inc.



6 Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp., a Denver-based subsidiary of Enerplus Resources Fund, Calgary, plans another northeastern Montana wildcat to target Red River about 17 miles west-northwest of Sidney. It will drill #27-15 RR Olive-Jack in Section 27-24n-56e, Richland County. The vertical Red River test is near horizontal Bakken oil production in Elm Coulee Field. Nearest Red River production is 2.25 miles southeast at abandoned Rainbow Field. There, #12-1 Lonetree Creek produced 166,375 bbl. of oil, 208.3 million cu. ft. of gas and 389,432 bbl. of water between 1982 and 1994.

Of its 114,000 net acres of undeveloped land in Montana and North Dakota, Enerplus reports its primary target is Bakken, but other prospective formations include the Ratcliffe, Mission Canyon, Birdbear, Duperow and Red River.



7 Several additional operators have made Bakken discoveries in northwestern North Dakota. Samson Resources Co., Tulsa, Okla., completed #15-22-162-97H in Section 15-162n-97w, over four miles south-southwest of Crosby in the northwestern part of the state, which marks the first production from this township. The eastern Divide County well initially pumped 60 bbl. of 42-gravity oil with 73,000 cu. ft. of gas and 58 bbl. of water a day.

Additionally, Enerplus Resources drilled its #32-14-H Titan-F-WP and found Bakken oil in Section 32-148n-103w in southwestern McKenzie County, about 16 miles southeast of Sidney, Montana. The well initially pumped 135 bbl. of oil and 122 bbl. of water a day. In the same county, Slawson Exploration Co. Inc., Wichita, Kan., completed a horizontal Bakken exploratory test at an initial rate of 460 bbl. of oil, 187,000 cu. ft. of gas and 96 bbl. of water a day. The #1-32H Stingray-Federal is in Section 32-147n-104w. Nearest Bakken production is two miles south-southeast in Squaw Gap Field.

Meanwhile, in northwestern Dunn County, Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP, a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips, completed two horizontal Bakken wildcats about eight to 15 miles northwest of Killdeer. The #14-27H Medicine Hole is in Section 27-146n-96w and #44-8H Dennis is in Section 8-147n-96w. Burlington has not released completion details on either well.



8 Encore Operating LP, Fort Worth, made a Bakken discovery about 23 miles north-northwest of Belfield, N.D. It drilled #21-8H Thompson, a Billings Nose exploratory test, in Section 8-143n-99w in Billings County. The well showed initial pumping potential of 78 bbl. of 42-gravity oil and 143 bbl. of water a day from two horizontal laterals. The discovery marks the first production from Bakken in the township. The site is about two miles north-northeast of a horizontal Bakken producer operated by Encore in Murphy Creek Field. There, #24-2H Kulish was completed flowing 488 bbl. of 42-gravity oil and 650 bbl. of water a day from two fractured horizontal laterals in Bakken.



9 Anderson Energy Corp. plans a 4,200-ft. wildcat for a nonproducing township in central Wyoming. It will target Tensleep with its #1 West South Fork-Federal in Section 15-39n-82w in northeastern Natrona County, 20 miles west-southwest of Midwest. The site is 10 miles northwest of Castle Creek Field, which produces from Frontier above 2,400 ft. The nearest Tensleep production was discovered in 1988 some 12 miles south-southwest in Lost Dome Field.



10 Petroleum Resource Management, Denver, plans a 4,000-ft. remote wildcat to target Leo (Minnelusa) oil zones in Niobrara County approximately 10 miles northeast of Lusk, Wyo. It will drill #5-1 Hansen Ranch-State in Section 5-33n-62w in a nonproducing township, about 11 miles south-southeast of Pine Lodge Field, an abandoned Leo oil pool that produced 175,695 bbl. of oil and 327,391 bbl. of water from Leo above 2,700 ft. The site is also 12 miles southeast of Young Woman field, which produces oil from Dakota.



11 Cleary Petroleum Corp., Oklahoma City, plans a 3,900-ft. wildcat to evaluate the Pennsylvanian Topeka, Wabaunsee and Lansing-Kansas City on the Hugoton Embayment in southeastern Colorado. It will drill #1-6 Swearington in Section 6-35s-41w in southeastern Baca County, two miles north of the Oklahoma border and three miles west of the Kansas border. Nearest production is three to four miles south and southeast, in Cimarron County, Okla. There, in the Keyes/Sturgis Northwest Field area, Cleary completed #1-14 Oklahoma in 2000 at an initial rate of 825,000 cu. ft. of gas a day through a 20/64-inch choke from Wabaunsee. The well produced 421 million cu. ft. of gas between July 2000 and May 2007.



12 Justin Energy LLC, Denver, plans a remote 13,800-ft. wildcat on the western flank of the Sand Wash Basin in northwestern Colorado, about 55 miles west-northwest of Craig. The #1 Kayak-Federal will target the Almond member of Mesaverde in Section 12-9n-100w in northwestern Moffat County. The nonproducing area is approximately 15 miles south-southeast of Sugar Loaf Field, 16 miles south of Hiawatha Field, and 17 miles southwest of Powder Wash field.



13 James B. Read, Ardmore Okla., will drill #1 Kemper in Section 35-1n-23w in southern Furnas County, Neb. The nonproducing area is about eight miles south-southwest of Beaver City and a mile north of the Kansas border. The 3,900-ft. test will drill to the Precambrian about 13 miles north-northeast of Hen Northwest Field in Norton County, Kan. There, three wells produced 29,000 bbl. of oil from Lansing-Kansas City from 1980 to 1998. The closest Nebraska wells are 14 miles west in Wilsonville Field, reports IHS Inc.

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