1 Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., Bakersfield, Calif., set pipe at 4,010 ft. and is waiting on completion tools at the 5,100-ft. #3-1 Sonata, a wildcat five miles south of Trico Field in Kern County. Tri-Valley says the indicated discovery, in Section 34-25s-23e MD, will test another of the four-prospect suite looking for large amounts of gas. The company notes the attempt on the first prospect, the #1-1 Sonata, was a dry hole resulting from the bit missing the main channel of the thicker sands. Rather than redrill the #1-1 Sonata, Tri-Valley has leap-frogged to the third and largest prospect. The company says it interpreted data it believes indicate the potential of large, separate pods of gas-bearing sands at relatively shallow depths. Tri-Valley Oil & Gas is a subsidiary of Tri-Valley Corp., also of Bakersfield. 2 Nevada's Nye County will see new exploration, with two 10,000 wildcats scheduled, reports IHS Energy Group. One is to be drilled by Trail Mountain Inc., an affiliate of Artesia, N.M., independent Yates Petroleum Corp. It's the #1 White Dome in Section 10-10n-59e, in the Horse Mountain Range. The other venture, the #4-15R Blue Eagle, Section 15-8n-57e, is an 8,609-ft. dry hole that's to be deepened by Sawyer Oil & Gas Co. LLC, Boca Raton, Fla. 3 Anschutz Exploration Corp., Denver, is drilling below 6,100 ft. on the way to a projected depth of 7,050 ft. at the remote wildcat #7-15 Headwaters-Federal in Section 15-28s-23e, San Juan County, Utah. There is no producing well within 12 miles of the venture that's designed to evaluate Permian and Pennsylvanian zones. 4 Houston independent Aviara Energy Corp. is drilling two horizontal Pennsylvanian Cane Creek wildcats in Grand County, in the Big Flat area of Utah. The first one started is the #7-1 Kane Springs, Section 7-25s-19e. Measured total depth is expected to be 11,000 ft., with a true vertical depth estimated at 8,500 ft. Seven miles southeast is the second one being drilled-the #11-1 Cane Creek, Section 11-26s-19e, that's projected to a true vertical depth of 7,850 ft. Aviara plans a third such test in the Big Flat area at the #30-1 Cane Creek in Section 30-26s-19e. 5 Two new wildcats are under way in Montana, according to IHS Energy Group. One is a horizontal Mississippian Bakken test-Dallas-based Lyco Energy Corp.'s #31-16-H Burning Tree-Julson in Section 31-25n-55e, Richland County. True vertical depth is projected to be 9,620 ft., with a horizontal displacement estimated at 3,300 ft. The other test is the #1-31 Rudolph Haynie that's being drilled by Newstar Energy USA Inc. in Section 31-23n-47e, McCone County. The East Lansing, Mich., firm's venture is to go to 9,400 ft. to test Mississippian Kibbey and Silurian Interlake. 6 North Dakota's Billings County is the site of an indicated Mississippian Fryburg discovery where an openhole interval between 9,447-13,630 ft. is being production tested by Whiting Petrolem Corp., Denver. The prospect, the #1-14H Davis Creek, Section 14-138n-101w, yielded approximately 1,500 bbl. of oil during production testing this past February and March. The company is proposing to run a polymer squeeze to help deal with the problem of excessive water production. 7 Wyoming's Fremont County gained a Cretaceous Frontier discovery when Cyanostar Energy Inc., Tulsa, completed the #1-4 Kirby Draw-Federal flowing 65 bbl. of oil and 465,000 cu. ft. of gas per day on a 48/64-in. choke. The company perforated between 3,830-4,326 ft. at the well, in Section 4-32n-95w, nearly a mile southwest of Kirby Draw Field and a little more than a mile northwest of Big Sand Draw Field. 8 A discovery 2.5 miles southeast of the southwestern flank of Wyoming's Jonah Field has been completed by McMurry Oil Co. (Alberta Energy Co.), Casper, flowing 994,000 cu. ft. of gas, 60 bbl. of condensate and 88 bbl. of water per day. IHS Energy Group says the #5-29 Hacienda-Federal, Section 29-28n-108w, Sublette County, is producing from three Cretaceous Middle Lance intervals between 8,750-9,139 ft. and a Mesaverde interval at 10,553-57 ft. 9 Anschutz Corp.'s #13-24ST Thief Creek, Section 26-13n-121w, Uinta County, Wyo., gave up a flow of 11.553 million cu. ft. of gas, 293 bbl. of condensate and two bbl. of water per day from Jurassic Nugget at completion. The well, a directional redrill of the northeastern-most producer in Anschutz Ranch East Field, is producing from an openhole interval between 15,700-16,712 ft. Testing was carried out using a 34/64-in. choke. The original vertical producer was completed in 1985 flowing 4.2 million cu. ft. of gas, 381 bbl. of condensate and 617 bbl. of water daily from 14,509-12,615 ft. in Nugget. About 0.75-mile northeast, Anschutz is drilling below 13,150 ft. at the #10-24 Thief Creek, Section 24-13n-121w. 10 Davis Petroleum Corp., Denver, is drilling toward a target depth of 11,800 ft. in Upper Cretaceous Ericson at the #1-3 Red Lake Federal in a remote sector of the Great Divide Basin in Sweetwater County, Wyo. Davis' wildcat is located in 1-23n-98w. The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal notes that about 1.5 miles north, Davis in 1977 drilled the #1 Jackalope, Section 25-24n-98w. A straddle packer drillstem test run across Ericson/ Mesaverde between 9,630-10,272 ft. yielded 38,000 cu. ft. of gas and 700 ft. of very highly gas cut mud. No production casing was run and the hole was abandoned. 11 Rocky Mountain Oil Journal reports field sources indicate ExxonMobil Corp. may have a discovery about three miles north of Piceance Creek Field in Rio Blanco County, Colo. The publication says reports are suggesting the company encountered approximately 100 ft. of pay at the #T33X-29G Piceance Creek Unit in Section 19-1s-96w. Mesaverde was the objective formation at the prospect that was scheduled to go to 16,000 ft. Meanwhile, IHS Energy Group says ExxonMobil is drilling a 16,000-ft. wildcat seven miles southwest in Rio Blanco County. The #F27X-8G Piceance Creek Unit, Section 8-2s-95w, is being drilled to evaluate Mesaverde and Cretaceous Mancos zones. 12 In Colorado's Weld County, the Sterling, Colo., firm of Walsh Production Inc. has completed the discovery and confirmation of South Lilli Field. The field opener #10-13 Federal and, 0.25-mile southeast, the confirmation #16-13 Federal together are producing oil at rates between 150 and 200 bbl. per day, with gas at rates between 100,000 and 200,000 cu. ft. daily from Cretaceous D Sand. Both wells are in Section 13-8n-59w. 13 Both the Tyonek and Hemlock zones yielded oil during flow tests conducted by Phillips Alaska Inc. at a directionally drilled wildcat off the lower Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. The company's #1 Hansen was directionally drilled from an onshore surface location in Section 2-4s-15w, west-northwestward to a proposed offshore bottomhole location in Section 32-3s-15w. Forest Oil Corp., owner of a 25% working interest in the prospect, reports the well reached a measured total depth of 18,360 ft. Operations at the well have been suspended for further evaluation. The #1 Hansen is the obligation well for the approximate 24,600-acre Cosmopolitan Unit, where Phillips Alaska plans to develop Starichkof Field. 14 Evergreen Resources Alaska Corp. has the permitting process under way for an eight-well coalbed-methane exploratory project on its 72,000-acre Pioneer Unit about 30 miles north of Anchorage at a site north of the Parks Highway between Wasilla and Houston. IHS Energy Group reports Evergreen is proposing to drill, complete and test the wells in two areas called pilots. The company will permit three pilots, even though only two will be drilled-an action that will help ensure that the unit's well obligations can be met. The company bought the Pioneer Unit from Ocean Energy and Unocal in May 2001.