1 Hamar Associates LLC, Ojai, Calif., has staked a location for its #1-10 Santiago wildcat in Kern County, Calif. The new well is proposed for Section 10-10n-22e, about 12.5 miles southeast of Maricopa, and 3,600 ft. north of the single-well Eagle Rest Field. The company did not reveal the target formation. 2 Wind River Resources Corp., Roosevelt, Utah, plans a 12,500-ft. exploratory test near a producing area the company is developing on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation some 40 miles northeast of Green River in Uintah County, Utah. According to IHS Energy, the company probably will drill the #4-1-15-20 North Hill Creek well in Section 1-15s-20e to Jurassic. The new well is more than two miles east-northeast of the company's #4-10-15-20 North Hill Creek well in Section 10-15s-20e. That Mesaverde well tested 2.7 million cu. ft. of gas and 100 bbl. of water a day from perforations between 4,521-44 ft. It had planned to drill the well to Jurassic Navajo at 11,700 ft., but the well caved in while drilling through Mancos near the bottom leaving a bit, drill collars and one joint of drillpipe in the hole. The company has drilled other wells in the area, including the #1-9-15-29 North Hill Creek in Section 9 of the same township and range. It has kept details tight on that 12,092-ft. wildcat. 3 An expanded drilling program is taking place in northeastern Montana's Valley County as Samson Resources Co., Tulsa, has asked for permits for six exploratory wells 20 to 30 miles west of Opheim. All are apparently scheduled to Upper Cretaceous zones at 2,000 ft. The wells are the #1-12 Tiny Spring Fee in Section 12-35n-37e, the #1-30 Antelope Pass Fee in Section 30-35n-37e, the #1-36 Crow Creek-State in Section 36-36n-35e, the #1-22 Upper Ichpair Creek Fee in Section 22-36n-36e, the #1-21 Starbuck Coulee Fee in Section 21-36n-37e and the #1-36 McEachern Creek-State in Section 36-3n-36e. EOG Resources Inc., Houston, Texas, drilled a remote 1,800-ft. wildcat in that area in late-2002 at its #5-16 Starbuck in Section 16-36n-36e. That well currently is shut in. The Samson wells are 12 to 25 miles northeast of Swanson Creek Field, a Cretaceous gas pool on the Bowdoin Dome. 4 Whiting Petroleum Corp., Denver, received a state permit to drill a 14,192-ft. Red River wildcat 13 miles southwest of Culbertson in northern Richland County, Mont. It will drill the #14-18 Peterson from a surface location in Section 18-26n-55e to a bottomhole location in Section 19 of the same township. It will be drilled to 12,100 ft., at which point the company will decide whether to complete in the vertical hole or plug back to 11,270 ft. and kick out for a horizontal completion. 5 EOG Resources Inc., Houston, has ramped up a horizontal Bakken exploration program 21 to 26 miles southwest of Culbertson in Richland County, Mont. It has asked for seven permits to drill to 14,300 ft. in sections 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 15 and 18, all in township 25n-53e. The wells are one to five miles west and northwest of Lyco Energy Corp.'s Charlie Creek-area discovery, according to IHS Energy. Lyco's #1 Dennis, in Section 13-25n-53e, pumped 70 bbl. of oil, 20,000 cu. ft. of gas and 10 bbl. of water a day from fractured Bakken between 9,494 ft. and 9,501 ft. in a 1997 vertical well. Lyco's confirmation well last year, the horizontal #24-24H Hopper-Keller in Section 24-25n-53e, produced 3,433 bbl. of oil and 52 bbl. of water in eight days in October, for a daily average of 429 bbl. of oil and seven bbl. of water. 6 Also, Continental Resources Inc., Enid, Okla., plans three new dual-lateral Bakken tests in Richland County's township 25n-53e. Continental's wells are the #21-26H Carda in Section 26, the #34-20H Ardelle in Section 20 and the #34-28H Frank in Section 28. The wells are two to four miles southwest of Lyco's Charlie Creek-area discovery. Meanwhile, Headington Oil LP, Dallas, has a three-well Bakken program working in sections 9, 10 and 11 of the same Montana township. 7 Jonah Field in southwestern Wyoming remains one of the more active parts of the state as McMurry Oil Co. (part of EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc., Calgary) completed three directional Lance producers in the same section about 30 miles south-southeast of Pinedale in Sublette County. The #55-34 Stud Horse Butte, drilled entirely in Section 34-29n-108w, tested at 10 million cu. ft. of gas, 100 bbl. of condensate and 75 bbl. of water a day from 10 Lance intervals between 8,074 ft. and 10,608 ft. The nearby #59-34 Stud Horse Butte flowed 6.9 million cu. ft. of gas, 11 bbl. of condensate and 28 bbl. of water a day from 11 fractured Lance zones and the #57-34 Stud Horse Butte in the same section flowed 5.85 million cu. ft. of gas, 100 bbl. of condensate and 45 bbl. of water a day from 12 fractured Lance intervals. Jonah Field has produced a cumulative 722.1 billion cu. ft. of gas and 7.5 million bbl. of condensate from 450 wells to date. 8 BP America Production Co. completed a wildcat discovery in the Red Desert Basin of Sweetwater County, Wyo., about 20 miles north of Wamsutter. The #35-1 Battle Springs, in Section 35-23n-94w, tested at 457,000 cu. ft. of gas and 156 bbl. of condensate a day from fractured Mesaverde between 11,879 ft. and 12,209 ft. through a 64/64-in. choke with 510 psi of casing pressure, according to IHS Energy. BP's discovery is 2.5 miles north of Siberia Ridge Field, which produces gas and condensate. In the same area, the company drilled the #19-1 Battle Springs well in Section 19-23n-94w as another discovery, testing at 590,000 cu. ft. of gas and four bbl. of condensate a day through a 32/64-in. choke with 300 psi of casing pressure. 9 El Paso Production Co., Houston, has staked the #1-2 Alt 1 in Section 2-39n-93w, Fremont County, Wyo. The deep subthrust wildcat in the Wind River Basin is 10 miles northeast of Shoshoni, and El Paso permitted the well under confidential status. Several months ago, according to The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal, El Paso formed the Hoodoo Unit, composed of 13,531 acres of land on the southern flank of the Owl Creek Thrust. At that time the company, with partners ChevronTexaco and Bill Barrett Corp. committed to a 16,000-ft. unit well. The test will target formations 500 ft. below the Niobrara, which would put the bit beneath the Owl Creek Thrust into the Frontier. The Hoodoo Unit includes sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of 39n-92w, sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 of 39n-93w, Section 31-40n-92w and sections 31, 32, 33, 34 and 36 in 40n-93w. 10 Wold Oil Co., Casper, plans a wildcat on the southern flank of the Granite Mountains on the northern edge of the Great Divide Basin in Fremont County, Wyo. The Crooks Creek Federal 23-6 is in Section 26-27n-92w, according to The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal. The well is scheduled to Upper Cretaceous Frontier at 13,500 ft. 11 Dudley & Associates, Denver, plans up to 1,240 wells in a coalbed-methane program some 20 miles northeast of Rawlins in Carbon County, Wyo. The Bureau of Land Management has started an environmental impact assessment of the project. The company began the Seminoe Road pilot project in the summer of 2001 with 16 pilot methane wells and one pressure observation well in the area of southern 22n-86w, and many of the wells have started producing small amounts of gas. 12 Flow Production Co., Midland, plans a 16,000-ft. Pennsylvanian Weber test on the northern flank of the Piceance Basin about 21 miles west-northwest of Meeker in Rio Blanco County, Colo. The #1-16 Shelby, in Section 16-2n-97w, will be in the area of the shallowest Wasatch gas production in White River Field. 13 Twining Drilling Corp., Albuquerque, has scheduled a 15,000-ft. Entrada test near a recent southern Albuquerque-Belen Basin well some seven miles southwest of Belen in Socorro County, N.M. The #2 Nat, in Section 27-4n-1e, is a half-mile south-southeast of Twining's #1 Nat, which is being completed. The wells are some 80 miles southeast of the nearest production in the southern San Juan Basin, according to IHS Energy. 14 Alaska granted Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, a drilling permit for the #1 Hot Ice wildcat south of the southwest corner of the Kuparuk River Unit, approximately 22 miles southeast of Nuiqsut on the North Slope of Alaska. The well is in Section 30-9n-8e, Umiat Meridian. The test is in the middle of a 12-mile gap between the Tarn pool to the north-northwest and the Meltwater North pool to the southwest.