1 Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co., Bakersfield, reports it is commencing operations at the #1-24 Aurora, a wildcat in Section 24-26s-26e MD, Kern County, Calif. The company is building location at the venture that is the third of 26 planned exploration prospects in its Opus I Drilling Program LP. Elsewhere in Kern County, in Section 4-25s-25e MD, Tri-Valley is preparing to fracture treat the gas-bearing McClure Shale in the horizontal well bore of the 9,420-ft. #2H Sunrise-Mayel. The test, on Tri-Valley's Sunrise project, is the second venture in the Opus I program. 2 The Nevada Oil Reporter reports on two Trail Mountain Inc. wildcats in Nevada-one that's drilling in Nye County and the other in Eureka County. The Artesia, N. M., operator's active test is the #1 White Pine Dome Federal in Section 10-10n-59e, in the Horse Range. Projected depth is 10,000 ft. The location is the 8,500-ft. #1 Lucky Seven Federal in Section 13-27n-51e, Pine Valley. The publication notes this location was originally staked by Trail Mountain in 1997 and refiled last May. 3 The Moab area of Grand County, Utah, claims a horizontal discovery-the #11-1 Cane Creek-where Aviara Energy Corp. recovered oil at a calculated rate of 1,104 bbl. per day from Pennsylvanian Cane Creek. IHS Energy Group notes the producing rate was based on a 3-hr. flow test that recovered 138 bbl. of oil, with gas at the rate of 70,000 cu. ft. per day, using a 14/64-in. choke. The discovery is producing from an openhole horizontal interval from 7,702 ft. to 9,892 ft., measured depths. It was drilled from a surface location in Section 11-26s-19e to a measured total depth of 9,893 ft. (7,554 ft., true vertical depth). 4 Participant Gasco Energy Inc., Denver, reports the #1 Pete's Wash-Federal 23-12 in Section 12-10s-17e, Uintah County, Utah, has been completed by Phillips Petroleum Co. flowing approximately 1.1 million cu. ft. of gas and 100 bbl. of water per day with flowing casing pressures of 2,100-2,300 psi. Gasco notes the flow rates and pressures continue to strengthen as the well cleans up. The production is coming from four Cretaceous Mesaverde zones between 10,934-11,582 ft. Gasco has a 20% working interest in the new producer, which confirms Phillips' 12,738-ft. #24-7 Federal discovery a mile east-southeast in Section 7-10s-18e. 5 Also in Uintah County, El Paso Production Oil & Gas Co., Houston, is moving in a rotary rig to drill the #26-32 Ute Tribal in Section 26-4s-2e. The wildcat is scheduled to go to 15,000 ft. to evaluate the gas potential of Tertiary Wasatch and the Mesaverde. 6 True Oil Co., Casper, has run production casing to 2,043 ft. at the #32-29 Anchor Island, an indicated discovery in Section 29-7n-39e, Rosebud County, Mont., reports IHS Energy Group. Plans are to test Cretaceous zones at the prospect, which bottomed at 2,070 ft. True is preparing to move its rig almost a mile east to drill the #22-28 Anchor Point, a proposed 2,110-ft. Cretaceous test in Section 28-7n-39e. The nearest established production is some 35 miles northwest of the two tests. 7 A discovery made by Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP near Big Piney in Sublette County, Wyo.-the 9,350-ft. #33-27 Muddy Creek Unit in Section 27-39n-111w-is flowing gas at an unstabilized rate from Upper Cretaceous Lance. It was drilled 2.5 miles south-southeast of another Lance discovery and about 16 miles west-northwest of Jonah Field. The discovery is one of the first wells to be drilled under an exploration agreement between Burlington and Gasco Energy Inc. to jointly explore and develop seven areas of mutual interest (AMI) covering about 332,000 acres in the greater Green River Basin. Burlington will be the operator of each AMI, with a 50% working interest. Gasco owns a 25% working interest and a private company has the remaining 25%. Within two miles northeast of the discovery, Burlington has scheduled two 9,500-ft. Lance/Mesaverde tests. They are the #24-14 Muddy Creek in Section 14-30n-111w and #12-23 Muddy Creek in Section 23-30n-111w. About 15 miles northeast of Big Piney, EOG Resources Inc. is drilling below 1,960 ft. at the #1-6 Whiskey Creek wildcat that's to bottom at 8,900 ft. in Mesaverde. The drillsite is in Section 6-31n-113w, Sublette County. Both Burlington and EOG have their headquarters in Houston. 8 Ultra Petroleum Corp., Houston, reports on another successful Lance/Mesaverde exploratory well in Sublette County. A one-mile-west stepout from Pinedale Field, the #4-10 Riverside, Section 10-31n-109w, had initial production of 15.8 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Total depth is 12,392 ft. Ultra notes it has an 85% working interest in the #4-10 Riverside. 9 Also in Sublette County, Mesa Unit Field on the Pinedale Anticline is the location of the #4-16D Mesa, a development well completed by Wexpro Co. flowing 8.132 million cu. ft. of gas, 42 bbl. of condensate and 42 bbl. of water per day on a 24/64-in. choke. IHS Energy Group says the Salt Lake City firm's well, directionally drilled in Section 16-32n-109w, was tested in 11 Lance intervals between 9,183-13,389 ft., measured depths. 10 A wildcat in San Miguel County, Colo., has been drilled to a total depth of 10,108 ft. and cased by Huntington Energy LLC, Oklahoma City. The #6-12 Big Mac, Section 6-43n-19w, was set up to evaluate several Paleozoic zones, including Cutler, Honaker Trail, Ismay and Leadville. The prospect is two miles south-southwest of Lisbon Southeast Field. 11 Winslow Resources Inc., Golden, Colo., is nearing projected depth of 4,800 ft. at a remote wildcat it's drilling at the #1 Buffalo Springs in Washington County, Colo. Plans are to evaluate Cretaceous D and J sands at the venture, in Section 24 of nonproducing Township 5n-52w. The drillsite is a little more than eight miles southeast of the abandoned Prewitt Field, which produced oil from J Sand at about 4,675 ft. 12 In New Mexico, Socorro County is to get a remote wildcat scheduled to be drilled by David V. Alcorn, Roswell. IHS Energy Group reports Alcorn's project is the #1 Jan that has a target depth of 3,000 ft. in Precambrian. It's in Section 32-4s-5e, in the nonproducing Orogrande Basin. The area is approximately 100 miles west of Permian Abo gas production in Chaves County on the northwestern flank of the Permian Basin and about 150 miles southeast of production on the southeastern flank of the San Juan Basin. 13 Phillips Alaska Inc. has told state regulators that it plans to drill up to four exploratory tests on Alaska's North Slope this winter. The company has filed notices of staking with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for five wildcats on four prospects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Two of the ventures are on the Kokoda prospect in Township 11n-5w Umiat Meridian, while there is one each on Powerline (9n-2w), Summit (11n-1e) and Grandview (10n-1w) prospects. The Carbon prospect in the NPR-A is also a site for possible drilling. The company is looking at additional sites for drilling ranging from its Puviag prospect on the western side of Teshekpuk Lake in the NPR-A to several prospects located on state lands east of Nuiqsut. Phillips' state acreage prospects include Cronus, Oberton, Placer, Sunrise and Titania. 14 Denver independent Forest Oil Corp. is preparing to drill a sidetrack at the #5 Redoubt Shoal Unit, an exploratory test in Cook Inlet's Redoubt Shoal Field area. IHS Energy Group says the venture is being drilled off the Osprey Platform in Section 14-7n-14w. It was directionally drilled to a measured total depth of 15,438 ft. at a proposed bottomhole location in Section 24-7n-14w. A bridge plug has been set at 13,722 ft. in order to drill the sidetrack hole. Forest notes the original hole encountered low permeability in Hemlock bringing about the sidetrack operation.