?Dallas-based Midroc Operating Co. is drilling a 12,000-ft. wildcat in the southeastern portion of Conecuh County, about 11 miles southwest of Red Level, Ala. The #16-10 Cedar Creek Land & Timber is in Section 16-4n-13e. At last report, 95/8-in. casing was set to 10,360 ft., according to IHS Inc. Nearly two miles south-southeast is Midroc’s #6 Jackson 27, in Little Cedar Creek Field. Opened in 1994, Midroc’s Little Cedar Creek Field has produced 5.5 million bbl. of oil, 4.79 billion cu. ft. of casinghead gas and 27,682 bbl. of water from Smackover.

2 Devon Energy Production Co. LP, Oklahoma City, has begun drilling an offshore Alabama wildcat on Mobile Block 830. The #1 OCS G27973 is in the southeastern corner of the irregular tract in 44 ft. of water. Devon’s exploration plan for Block 830 calls for two tests at separate surface locations. A previous recovery on Block 830 was completed in 1989 and produced 1.39 million cu. ft. of gas daily from Miocene at 1,580-96 ft. The 2,050-ft. well yielded 373.4 million cu. ft. of gas through 2005 as the only producer in Mobile Block 830 Field.

3 Penn Virginia Oil & Gas Corp., Radnor, Pa., scheduled the first horizontal New Albany gas test in a nonproducing area of Sangamon County just south of Springfield, Ill. The northwestern Illinois Basin #1-R2 H Jones in Section 12-14n-5w is set up as a 6,700-ft. test. It will be drilled about 2.5 miles north of an isolated, one-well discovery completed in 1955 that opened Glenarm Field.

4 Midland, Texas-based RK Petroleum Corp. received a permit for a 2,400-ft. Devonian wildcat about two miles east of Coffeen, Ill. The #1 Froehly, Section 5-7n-2w, southeastern Montgomery County, will be drilled in Bond County’s Woburn Consolidated Field. Since 1940, Woburn has produced 4.96 million bbl. of oil, including 945 bbl. from four remaining active wells in April 2008.
Area reservoirs include Cypress, Benoist, Renault, Aux Vases, Devonian and Trenton at depths ranging from 850 to 3,200 ft.

5 BPI Energy Holdings Inc., Solon, Ohio, has signed a lease agreement with Western Fuels of Illinois Inc. for Herrin and Springfield coalbed-methane (CBM) and coal-mine methane (CMM) gas rights on approximately 5,600 acres, according to Unconventional Natural Gas Report. The acreage overlaps BPI’s Delta Field in Saline County, Ill. BPI has wells and is producing CBM from lower coal seams; the lease provides access to two additional seams in those wells. BPI’s leasehold assets in Saline County now exceed 13,000 acres, and gross leasehold interest to approximately 534,300 acres. It plans to drill 24 new CBM and CMM wells on the Western lease and start production from the new seams in 10 of its existing Delta wells.

6 Sinclair Oil & Gas Co., Salt Lake City, has applied for drilling permits for two horizontal Niagaran wildcats in Michigan’s southern reef trend, including one about seven miles northeast of Howell in Livingston County. Plans call for #1-2HD1 Line to be drilled from a surface location in Section 2-3n-5e, Osceola Township.
Elsewhere in southeastern Michigan, Sinclair has plans to drill a 9,227-ft. horizontal Niagaran wildcat 3.5 miles west-southwest of Yale in northwestern St. Clair County, reports IHS Inc.

7 Unbridled Energy Corp., Sewickley, Pa., and partners have more than 13,000 gross acres in Chautauqua County, N.Y. Unbridled has developed a new fracture-stimulation technique for Medina tight-gas sands. The design creates greater lateral fracturing with less downward profile, and results in sustained, high production rates and increased recoverable reserves.
Three of six new wells drilled with the technique are producing approximately 100 million cu. ft. of gas per day, although sales have been restricted due to pipeline considerations. The company is permitting 10 additional wells for this year’s program, and it may drill up to 25 by the end of first-quarter 2009. Separately, an existing well is being selected to test shallower Marcellus and Geneseo shales; these shales occur throughout Unbridled’s acreage.

8 Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources Corp. reports that it has drilled more than 100 wells in the Appalachian Basin’s Marcellus shale, including 20 horizontals. The last 10 reported horizontals averaged initial rates of 4.1 million cu. ft. per day.?Estimated gross reserves per horizontal Marcellus well may average about 3- to 4 billion cu. ft. equivalent, and typical well costs are?$3- to $4 million. The company has approximately 1.4 million acres, including 850,000 high-graded acres, in the shale.
The play is developing in two regional areas: southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York. Range has three rigs at work and plans to drill 40 horizontal wells in 2008 and to add two purpose-built rigs; 2009 plans include eight additional rigs. Production start-up will be phased in, and rates are expected to reach 30 million cu. ft. of gas per day in early 2009.

9 Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va., has agreed to assign Marcellus shale drilling rights on approximately 205,000 net acres to Antero Resources Corp., Denver. In the agreement, Dominion will receive a 7.5% royalty interest on future production, will retain drilling rights in traditional formations both above and below the Marcellus, and will continue its conventional drilling program on the acreage. The acreage is principally in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and represents 25% to 33% of Dominion’s 600,000 to 800,000 acres of Marcellus rights.?The company says it continues to receive interest in its remaining Marcellus acreage and expects to pursue similar transactions.

10 Linn Energy LLC, Houston, has closed the sale of its Appalachian Basin properties to Fort Worth, Texas-based XTO Energy Inc. for approximately $600 million. The transaction included 152,000 net acres of Marcellus leases in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. XTO’s engineers estimate proved reserves from shallow Mississippian and Devonian reservoirs at 145 billion cu. ft. of gas equivalent.?The acquisition has added net daily production of 25 million cu. ft. equivalent to XTO’s production base. Pipeline and gathering infrastructure is valued at about $50 million.

11 NGAS Resources Inc. has been drilling horizontal Devonian Lower Huron shale wells in its core Leatherwood Field in Perry County, Ky., since February 2008. The company’s fourth and fifth wells produced 203,000 and 360,000 cu. ft. per day, respectively, during their first 30 days online. NGAS reports it owns 100% in the fourth well and 87.5% in the fifth. The Lexington, Ky.-based operator has drilled three additional wells to total vertical depths, and will soon drill laterals in each to expected lengths of 3,500 ft. It plans at least 20 horizontal shale wells this year.