1 Pioneer Oil Co. Inc., Lawrenceville, Ill., and partner Jones Oil Co. are moving in rotary tools to drill the #1 Sims in Section 15-6n-5e, Effingham County, Ill. According to IHS Energy Group, the deeper-pool wildcat, which has Devonian zones as its primary objective, is scheduled to be drilled to 4,200 ft. The drillsite is in the abandoned Mason North Field, which produced from several formations, with Mississippian Salem at about 2,900 ft. being the deepest. 2 Other work scheduled for Effingham County includes the #1-5 Phipps, an outpost staked by Dart Oil & Gas Corp. a half-mile northeast of the company's opener of Keptown Field. Mason, Mich.-based Dart's new test, in Section 5-7n-5e, is to be drilled to 4,000 ft. to Devonian. In 1998, Dart completed the discovery, #1-7 Smith Trust, pumping 40 bbl. of oil and a similar amount of water per day from Devonian Geneva at 3,731-33 ft. The #1-7 Smith Trust is in Section 7-7n-5e. 3 Schuyler County, Ill., is to see new exploration in the form of a shallow wildcat planned by Charles A. Bailey Sr., Bath, Ill. The new test is the #1 Fitzjarrald in Section 18-1n-2w. The Silurian venture, which has a projected depth of 550 ft., is 3.5 miles northwest of the closest previous production, in the now abandoned Ripley North Field. Opened in 1983, the field produced noncommercial amounts of oil from Devonian and Silurian at about 600 ft. 4 Drilling is under way at the NAMI Resources Co. LLC #1 Reed Helton, a wildcat in Section 10-E-66, Corbin Quad, Whitley County, Ky. IHS Energy Group reports the London, Ky., independent plans to drill to a depth of approximately 3,000 ft. in Corniferous at the new test, about 4 miles east of Woodbine Field. 5 MTM Ltd., Bardstown, Ky., intends to test Silurian Laurel to a depth of 1,500 ft. at the #1 Fred Sullivan, a wildcat staked in Section 12-K-42, Hart County, Ky. The new project is nearly 3 miles west of Priceville Field that produces, or has produced, gas from Mississippian St. Louis and Fort Payne, Laurel Dolomite and Ordovician Leipers (Fairmount) Lime. 6 Savoy Exploration Inc. and Savoy Energy LP, Traverse City, Mich., report a flow gauge of 1.05 million cu. ft. of gas and 10 bbl. of condensate per day at completion of an Ordovician Prairie du Chien discovery in Alcona County, Mich. The well is the #1-7A Beck, in Section 7-28n-8e, Caledonia Township, near Lake Huron. It was drilled to a total depth of 7,239 ft. and is producing through perforations at 7,131-38 ft. Other activity planned by Savoy Energy in Michigan includes the redrill of the #1-34 Onekama from a surface location in Section 34-23n-16w, Onekama Township, Manistee County. IHS Energy Group notes the wildcat is to be drilled to a depth of about 6,180 ft. to evaluate Silurian Brown Niagaran. It's a redrill of the company's #1-35 Onekama, which was directionally drilled in late 1997 to a bottomhole location under Portage Lake and completed as a dry hole. Measured total depth is 5,450 ft. and true vertical depth is 4,374 ft. 7 A Hillsdale County, Mich., wildcat has been staked by Federated Oil & Gas Properties Inc. at the #1-20 Alley. The Traverse City-based company is set to evaluate the oil potential of Ordovician Trenton and Black River at the 4,431-ft. test, in Section 20-5s-1w, Somerset Township, about 5 miles east of Black River oil production in Stoney Point Field. 8 Merit Energy Co., Dallas, plans to drill four 4,400-ft. Devonian Richfield ventures in Section 15-25n-2e, Big Creek Township, Oscoda County, Mich. The four are the #3-15, #4-15, #5-15 and #6-15 tests on the USA-Big Creek lease in the Church Lake Field area. They offset the field's confirmation well, which was completed in 1991 producing gas from Ordovician St. Peter at 10,164-80 ft. They're also about a mile generally east of the field's Richfield pay discovery, which was completed last year pumping 50 bbl. of oil, 10 bbl. of water and 50,000 cu. ft. of gas per day from 4,180-84 ft. and 4,210-14 ft. 9 North Coast Energy Inc., Twinsburg, Ohio, says it has made two Cambro-0rdovician Knox gas discoveries on a 13,000-acre tract in southeastern Ohio. The first well, the #545 CR, was drilled to a total depth of 5,998 ft. a year ago. It produced as much as 550,000 cu. ft. of gas per day through February and has settled into a daily production rate of more than 300,000 cu. ft. The second well, the 6,181-ft. #552 CR. was drilled in April and has produced more than 1 million cu. ft. of gas per day since it went into production in May. Both wells are in Madison Township, Muskingum County. North Coast says two additional tests are planned this year. 10 Also in Ohio's Muskingum County, Tatum Petroleum Corp., Columbus, has staked a deeper-pool wildcat at the #2 Randi in Lot 32, Salem Township, Otsego Quad. The exploratory venture in Fairview Church Field is to be drilled to 7,700 ft. to test Cambrian Conasauga. IHS Energy Group notes the field now produces from Silurian Clinton and from Knox. 11 Zanesville, Ohio, independent Oxford Oil Co. is set to drill to 5,050 ft. at a Cambrian Rose Run deeper-pool test in Brownsville Field, Licking County, Ohio. Oxford's project is the #2 William Carroll in Lot 37, Hopewell Township, Hanover Quad. Wells in the area produce from Clinton. 12 An initial flow gauge of 28 million cu. ft. of gas per day was credited to the #23975 Juanita Groves et al., completed by Columbia Natural Resources Inc. in the Cottonwood Field area of Roane County, W.Va. The Charleston-based company tapped Trenton between 9,658-9,712 ft. at the well, in Geary District, Clio Quad, reports IHS Energy Group. The new producer confirms Columbia's #30097 Frederick C. Parker et al. discovery, also in Geary District. The discovery yielded an openflow rate estimated to be 50 million cu. ft. of gas per day from Trenton-Black River. 13 In Alabama's Lamar County, Cottonwood, Ala., independent Local Inc. completed the #1 Burnett 16-14, a Paleozoic wildcat, flowing 112 bbl. of oil and 135,000 cu. ft. of gas per day on a 16/64-in. choke. The discovery, in Section 16-14s-14w, was tested through perforations at 2,323-69 feet in Carter Sand, reports the Southeastern Oil Review. 14 Also in Lamar County, S. Lavon Evans Jr. Operating Co. Inc., Laurel, Miss., perforated at 2,996-78 ft. in Benton Sand and is testing the zone at the #2 Holliman 36-10, an apparent shallower-pool discovery in County Line Field. The well, in Section 36-17s-14w, flowed through a compressor at a rate of 200,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. The Southeastern Oil Review reports Evans found a total of 40 ft. of pay in Benton Sand while drilling the well to a total depth of 3,117 ft. 15 Palmer Petroleum Inc., Shreveport, is testing a Jurassic Norphlet wildcat at the #1 Smith Estate 13-7, Section 13-5n-7e, Monroe County, Ala. According to the Southeastern Oil Review, the indicated discovery is being tested through perforations at 12,640-56 ft. and 12,680-12,708 ft, The prospect is 3.5 miles southeast of North Excel Field and almost that far east of Southwest Excel Field.