1 PYR Energy Corp., Denver, provides an update on exploratory activity in which it's participating in Kern County, Calif. In the East Lost Hills area, PYR reports the Berkley Petroleum Inc.-operated #1-17R Bellevue, an apparent discovery in Section 17-26s-21e MD, tested gas at rates ranging from 1.3 million to 5 million cu. ft. per day, with condensate and water, from Miocene Temblor. Pressure build-up analysis indicated that only the uppermost sand unit encountered was contributing to the flow. PYR notes the uncemented production liner in the well makes stimulation efforts very difficult, hence, the partners have decided to review the options of either a sidetrack of the #1-17R to redrill the Temblor section, or drill a new test from the surface. Meanwhile, in Section 6-26s-21e MD, Calgary-based Berkley is drilling at 18,237 ft., approximately 1,000 ft. into the Temblor formation objective at the #1 Berkley East Lost Hills. Four separate sand units with approximately 720 ft. of net sand have been penetrated and steadily increasing gas shows have been encountered. Projected depth remains at 20,000 ft. Calgary-based Berkley operates both tests. PYR also reports Berkley's #1 Berkley Cal Canal, an exploratory venture that bottomed at 18,100 ft. in Section 32-28s-22e MD, penetrated 1,230 ft. of Temblor, with 775 ft. of net sand. Noncommercial hydrocarbon flow rates were obtained from the initial perforated 10-ft. zone in the Lower McDonald. Several additional zones remain to be tested in Temblor, McDonald and Upper McDonald. However, the partners have decided to defer further completion or deepening operations until information regarding reservoir quality and performance is obtained from on-going drilling efforts in the San Joaquin Basin. 2 Elsewhere in Kern County, Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., Bakersfield, says drilling has been started at its #1 Ekho, an exploratory test with a target depth of 19,500 ft. in Temblor. Tri-Valley says the #1 Ekho, in Section 3-27s-22e MD, is the first of three ventures scheduled to test a mapped structure. The #1 Ekho has been funded by nine Canadian junior resource companies and various individual investors. This group will carry Tri-Valley for 12.5% in the test through completion. Once the original investment is returned, Tri-Valley will back in for an additional 12.5%, bringing its working interest to 25% in the producing unit. This same formula will be repeated on the next two tests, after which Tri-Valley will continue as a 25% working interest owner in the entire project, which has an area of mutual interest exceeding 300,000 acres in the south San Joaquin Valley. 3 Conley P. Smith Operating Co., Denver, is drilling below 4,560 ft. at its remote wildcat the #33-16 Trough Springs-Federal in Section 33-7n-63e, Lincoln County, Nev. IHS Energy Group reports the test is being drilled toward a projected depth of 4,100 ft. from a ground elevation of 5,978 ft. It offsets to the east Smith's #27-15 Flat Top-Federal, which was set up as a 3,500-ft. test of Mississippian Scotty Wash sands and completed in 1998 as an approximate 5,500-ft. dry hole. That failure was the first test drilled under a joint venture exploration agreement between Lakewood, Colo.-based Foreland Corp. and Smith. 4 Dallas independent Rosewood Resources Inc. has established a Cretaceous Mesaverde gas pool in Utah's Buck Canyon Field. The deeper-pool discovery-the #5-6 Rosewood-Federal in Section 5-12s-22e, Uintah County-was tested at a calculated rate of 1.42 million cu. ft. per day on a 16/64-in. choke through perforations at 5,855-59 and 5,861-67 ft. It's a northwest offset to the field opener completed in 1962 producing gas from Tertiary Wasatch at 5,541 ft. 5 In Montana, a workover performed by Berco Resources Inc. at the #1-9 Tiller, Section 9-25n-55e, Richland County, resulted in a Devonian Nisku discovery that flowed 55 bbl. of oil, 34,000 cu. ft. of gas and 10 bbl. of water per day. According to IHS Energy Group, the shallower-pool opener in Charlie Creek East Field is producing from 10,090-10,100 ft. The 11,950-ft. well originally was completed in 1991 producing from 11,808-42 ft. in Ordovician Red River. 6 Nance Petroleum Corp., Billings, is nearing 4,300 ft. at the #13-30 Harmon, a 12,870-ft. wildcat it's drilling in Roosevelt County, Mont. Located in (Lot 4) Section 30-27n-58e, the venture is scheduled to evaluate Ratcliffe (Mississippian Madison), Nisku and Red River. 7 In Divide County, N.D., Lyco Energy Corp., Dallas, is moving in rotary tools to drill a wildcat at the #17-14 Trigger-Killbride. IHS Energy Group says the venture is in Section 17-160n-102w, six miles southeast of Daneville Field. 8 Barrett Resources Corp., Denver, took a short-term test of subthrust Cretaceous Lakota at the #5-12 Bullfrog in Natrona County, Wyo., recovering gas at rates up to 16 million cu. ft. per day, with some water. The deeper-pool discovery in Section 12-36n-87w, Waltman Field, has pipe set on bottom at 19,950 ft. for tests of a number of subthrust zones in addition to Lakota, namely Cretaceous First, Third and Fifth Frontier. Barrett has moved uphole to test subthrust Muddy. The company, which owns an 82% interest in the prospect and will have an 80% to 94% working interest in several offset locations, owns about 4,100 gross (3,733 net) acres in the "Waltman Deep" area. 9 At another exploratory well drilled by Barrett Resources in Wyoming, a drillstem test in Pennsylvanian Minnelusa Upper "B" Sand at 8,555-75 ft. yielded a pipe recovery (reversed out) of 500 ft. of oil-and-gas-cut mud and 1,510 ft. of gas-cut oil. The sample chamber contained 1,550 cc of oil, 500 cc of water and 0.5 cc of gas. Barrett is awaiting a completion unit at the #31-6 Duvall in Section 6-49n-69w, a half-mile north of Halverson Field in Campbell County. 10 The #3 Mesa Unit, completed by Wexpro Co. on the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming, initially flowed 11.4 million cu. ft. of gas and 113 bbl. of condensate per day from 11 Upper Cretaceous Lance intervals. IHS Energy Group reports Wexpro's new 13,055-ft. producer is in Section 16-32n-109w, Sublette County. Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp.'s subsidiaries Wexpro and Questar Exploration & Production Co. own a combined 93.1% working interest in the well. Double Eagle Petroleum & Mining Co., Casper, holds the remaining 6.9% working interest. 11 Also in Sublette County, Santa Fe Snyder Corp.., Houston, completed the #3-1-28-109 Yellow Point, (lot 3) irregular Section 1-28n-109w, flowing 1.475 million cu. ft. of gas, 25 bbl. of condensate and 27 bbl. of water per day from eight Lance intervals between 7,802-10,147 ft. The well, on the southwestern flank of Jonah Field, is the first one drilled on a 141.81-acre federal lease for which Santa Fe Snyder paid a record $32,000 per acre at the oil and gas lease sale held by the Wyoming State Offce of the Bureau of Land Management last June. Within a half-mile to the southwest, the company has drilled and cased a proposed 10,480-ft. Lance test at the #5-1-28-109 Yellow Point, also in irregular Section 1. Completion work is under way. 12 Initial flow rate was 3.452 million cu. ft. of gas and five bbl. of water per day at #2165 Lower Horse Draw Unit, a deeper-pool opener completed by Coastal Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, in Colorado's Lower Horse Draw Field. The well, in Section 35-2s-103w, Rio Blanco County, is producing from Jurassic Morrison and Entrada at 6,098-6,124 ft. and 6,184-96 ft., respectively. IHS Energy Group says the well is in an area of Cretaceous Mancos gas production in Colorado's Lower Horse Draw Field. 13 Arco Alaska Inc. has received permission from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to drill up to eight exploratory tests in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The BLM expects the work to be spread over three drilling seasons, with only two or three tests to be completed this year. Additionally, Arco Alaska has applied for state drilling permits for two exploratory tests in the Colville River Unit in the Colville River Delta of Alaska's North Slope about five miles generally north of Nuiqsut. The two ventures are the #2 Nanuk in Section 24-11n-4e, Umiat Meridian, and #3 Nanuk to be in one of the following sections: 23-26 of 11n-4e, or 18 and 30 of 11n-5e.