?1 According to IHS Inc., South Ellwood Field offshore California will be the site of a Denver-based Venoco Inc. full field-development project after the release of a draft environmental-impact report by the California State Lands Commission.
Located offshore in the Santa Barbara Channel, South Ellwood Field produces about 3,100 bbl. of oil and 5.2 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The field has 2.1 billion bbl. of original oil in place and, according to a Venoco spokes­man, about half of that is within the undeveloped area. The company plans to drill eight to 10 wells to the undeveloped area from Platform Holly using extended-reach technology. The CSLC application proposes expansion of leases PRC 310 and 3242 and installation of a new 10-mile pipeline from Platform Holly to an existing pipeline in Las Flores Canyon.

2 Wolverine Gas & Oil Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., plans to drill a wildcat about 15 miles southeast of Richfield on the Utah Hingeline. Wolverine filed a permit for #35-1 Plateau Valley-Federal in Section 35-25s-1w, southern Sevier County, approximately 14 miles south-southeast of the company’s Covenant Field, a 2004 Jurassic Navajo discovery that touched off the Hingeline play. The Bureau of Land Management is preparing an environmental assessment for the project.

3 Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. has released details on a remote Pennsylvanian gas discovery. Drilled last year on the San Rafael Swell about 18 miles northwest of Green River, Utah, #1 Woodside, Section 12-19s-13e in northeastern Emery County, flowed at a daily rate of 4.2 million cu. ft. of gas and 159 bbl. of water through a 32/64-in. choke from two fractured intervals at 5,010-20 ft. and 5,042-60 ft. Barrett also perforated and fractured two deeper zones at 5,199-5,216 ft. and 5,660-72 ft., and then closed off by bridge plugs at 5,145 ft. and 5,410 ft.
Due to a lack of infrastructure, the 6,370-ft. discovery was shut in after completion. Barrett’s #1 Woodside offsets an abandoned Woodside Field discovery from 1924 that flowed 10 million cu. ft. of helium gas per day from Shinarump at 2,155-65 ft. The 3,270-ft. discovery was shut in upon completion and has never produced.?

4 According to IHS Inc., Fidelity Exploration & Production Co. and five other operators have notified the Bureau of Land Management of their intent to drill additional exploration and development wells in the Bowdoin area in northern Montana. Fidelity is a Denver-based subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc., Bismarck, N.D. The proposed work is generally in townships 30-37n, ranges 29-36e, in Phillips and Valley counties.
The project area consists of approximately 813,000 acres, with surface ownership 33% federal, 61% private and 6% state. The environmental analysis proposes 140 exploratory wells (80 federal), 680 development wells (340 federal) and 435 replacement wells (215 federal), drilled at individual locations during the next 10 to 15 years, and a project lifespan of 30 to 50 years.

5 A Continental Resources Inc. wildcat drilled in the Williston Basin is producing from Red River. The #1-23 Smart, Section 23-26n-55e, northern Richland County, Mont., produced an average of about 345 bbl. of oil, 122,000 cu. ft. of gas and one bbl. of water per day in its first month of reported production. The 12,266-ft. vertical discovery intersected a Red River D porosity zone. Enid, Okla.-based Continental has staked a 12,200-ft. stepout 0.5-mile southwest of #1-23 Smart; the test will be drilled on a 320-acre spacing unit in sections 27 and 22, 26n-55e.

6 Encore Operating LP, Fort Worth, has completed a horizontal Bakken producer in western North Dakota’s Bear Creek Field. The well, about 15 miles north-northwest of Killdeer, initially flowed 349 bbl. of 38.5-degree oil, 192,000 cu. ft. of gas, and 113 bbl. of water per day. The #44-10H Tysver-Federal, Section 10-147n-96w, northwestern Dunn County, is producing from a fractured open-hole horizontal lateral in Middle Bakken extending from 11,218 ft. northwestward to a total depth of 16,069 ft. True vertical depth is 10,883 ft. The well is flowing through casing on a 14/64-in. choke.

7 Denver-based Tracker Resource Development II LLC completed a Middle Bakken horizontal discovery about seven miles southeast of Dunn Center in Dunn County, N.D. Tracker says its #26-1H, in Section 26-144n-94w, flowed oil at rates up to 300 bbl. per day through an open choke after cleanout. The fractured horizontal lateral produces from Middle Bakken extending from 10,639 ft. Given a 5% primary recovery factor, Tracker estimates original oil in place at 2.7 million bbl., and ultimate recovery at 145,000 bbl. of oil per well.

8 A Bakken wildcat by Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (ConocoPhillips) has been completed as a horizontal producer 11 miles north of Killdeer, N.D. The #41-26H Burner in Section 26-147n-95w, northwestern Dunn County, is producing 226 bbl. of 40-degree oil, 185,000 cu. ft. of gas and 33 bbl. of water per day from a fractured lateral in Middle Bakken. Flow was measured through a 10/64-in. choke with a casing pressure of 2,950 psi. Formation tops include Bakken at 11,160 ft. and Middle Bakken at 11,224 ft.

9 Continental Resources reported a horizontal wildcat discovery on the Nesson Anticline, flowing 1,095 bbl. of oil equivalent and 657,000 cu. ft. of gas daily. The #1-35H Mathistad, in Section 35-150n-96w, northeastern McKenzie County, is 11 miles west of Mandaree, N.D. The 20,550-ft. well is producing from Three Forks/Sanish, immediately below the Bakken. Middle Bakken wells, according to Continental, are completed approximately eight ft. below the base of the Upper Bakken shale.
If the Three Forks/Sanish formation is a separate oil-producing reservoir not drained by a horizontal well completion in the Middle Bakken, it would add “significant incremental reserves” to the Bakken play, the company reports. Continental and Bur­lington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (Conoco­Phil­lips) have a joint drilling program.

10 Offshore Liberty Field in the Beaufort Sea will be the objective of an ultra extended-reach drilling project for BP Exploration Alaska and Parker Drilling. The planned Parker rig can drill deeper than 10,000 ft. with offsets up to 42,000 ft. Up to six wells are planned from the Tern gravel and ice island (an existing Endicott Field satellite pad) and production is scheduled for 2011. Liberty Field is approximately six miles offshore in Foggy Island Bay, and part of Stefansson Sound. BP estimates that Liberty Field may hold up to 100 million bbl. of recoverable oil.

11 Fowler Oil & Gas Corp. has permitted a coalbed-methane well in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley. The company has leased 30,000 to 40,000 acres in the northern Cook Inlet Basin. Its first well, #1 Kircher in Section 26-18n-1e, Seward Meridian, is expected to spud shortly. Fowler is based in Palmer, Alaska.