1 Emerald Trail LLC, Artesia, N.M., plans a new-field wildcat reaching for gas in an undisclosed formation in Merced County, Calif. The company's #1 Merced, in Section 11-9s-11e, is 12 miles northwest of Mint Road Field and 9.5 miles northeast of the town of Los Baños. Emerald's #1 Wolfsen is in the same section, said IHS Energy. 2 A new-field wildcat has been staked by Prime Natural Resources Inc. in Section 3-27s-19e in Kern County, Calif. The Bakersfield independent will drill its #1 Del Lago two miles northeast of the abandoned Shale Flats Field, about 2.5 miles southeast of Beer Nose Field and 12 miles west of Lost Hills. Some seven miles west, Carneros Energy Inc., also of Bakersfield, has permitted the #27-15 USL wildcat in Section 15-27s-18e, about four miles southwest of abandoned Shale Point Field. 3 Clarus Energy Advisors LLP, Evergreen, Colo., revealed plans for a 7,833-ft. exploratory well in the area of Buck Canyon Field some 23 miles south-southwest of Ouray, Utah. The #12-1 Thurston-Federal, in Section 12-12s-21e in south-central Uintah County, will look at gas potential in the Wasatch and Mesaverde formations. It also has applied for the Thurston Unit, but that application hasn't yet been approved. The new well is a half-mile north-northwest of an abandoned gas producer in Buck Canyon Field. That Wasatch well produced 81.9 million cu. ft. of gas from fractures between 5,150-59 ft. before it was plugged, according to IHS Energy. 4 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to conduct the environmental impact statement that could allow Startech Energy Inc., Calgary, to drill south of Blackleaf Canyon Field in the Disturbed Belt of northwestern Montana. For several years the company has been planning to drill the #1 Startech-Blindhorse in Section 6-25n-8w in western Teton County, Wyo., some 25 miles west-northwest of Choteau. The proposed well will drill to 6,502 ft. to investigate gas potential in two subthrust Sun River dolomites. There is no other production in the township. Blackleaf Field, now inactive, produced some 7 billion cu. ft. of gas and almost 34,000 bbl. of condensate from the Sun River dolomite below 4,300 ft. Startech proposed three wells for its property. 5 A dual-lateral Bakken discovery tested at a stabilized daily rate of 477 bbl. of oil and 565,000 cu. ft. of gas daily during a 72-hour test for EOG Resources Inc. The #1-5H Candee is in Section 5-25n-53e in northwestern Richland County, Mont. The Houston-based company drilled the well some 18 miles southeast of Poplar. The first lateral extended to the south-southeast to a measured depth of 13,997 ft. at a bottomhole location in Section 8. True vertical depth was 9,287 ft. The second lateral reached north-northwest to 13,476 ft. (TVD 9,228 ft.) at a bottomhole location in Section 5. EOG also drilled nearby wells. 6 Headington Oil Co. LP, Dallas, brought in a discovery at its #24X-28 Burgess dual-lateral exploratory well 25 miles south of Culbertson in Richland County, Mont. The well yielded 619 bbl. of oil and 903 bbl. in a 22-hour flow test. The tophole location is in Section 28-24n-55e with laterals extending northwest and northeast and bottoming in the same section. The drilling location is 1.25 miles east-southeast of the #29-1 BR discovery well, completed four years ago flowing 150 bbl. of oil and 73,000 cu. ft. of gas a day from a vertical section in Bakken, according to IHS Energy. 7 M3 Energy LLC, Houston, staked a 9,700-ft. wildcat on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in McKenzie County, N.D. The company's #1 Ruth Packineau, in Section 16-149n-94w, is about a mile west of Mandaree and more than a mile west of the remote Squaw Creek Field discovery. That 14,501-ft. Red River discovery produced some 35,856 bbl. of oil, 131.2 million cu. ft. of gas and 3,317 bbl. of water before it was recompleted in late 1988 in shallower Mission Canyon. Through December last year, it produced about 274,259 bbl. of oil, 266.3 million cu. ft. of gas and 151,144 bbl. of water from the shallower zone. 8 Billings, Mont.-based FH Petroleum Corp. has applied for unit status for all of sections 24 and 25-142n-103w in Golden Valley, N.D. The 1,280-acre unit would support a proposed dual-lateral horizontal well to Nisku some 15 miles north-northeast of Sentinel Butte and three miles southeast of FH's two-well Cooks Peak Field, where the #23-3 BR flowed 142 bbl. of oil a day from Nisku between 10,754-58 ft., said IHS Energy. 9 Equity Oil Co., Salt Lake City, scheduled an 8,000-ft. wildcat in the Overthrust Belt of western Wyoming. The #1-25 North Mountain Unit, in Section 26-30n-115w, is in the area of the Prospect Thrust some 26 miles northwest of LaBarge in southwestern Sublette County. The target is oil. The well is a mile north-northwest of the #1-35 North Riley Ridge discovery well, which posted an initial potential of 3.7 million cu. ft. of gas from fractured Frontier between 7,898 and 7,922 ft. through a 20/64-in. choke with 1,520 psi of tubing pressure. That well depleted in five months after producing 15.1 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,824 bbl. of water. 10 BP America Production Co., Houston, continued its aggressive Mesaverde formation campaign in the Wamsutter area of Sweetwater County, Wyo. The #19-4 South Dug Springs Unit, in Section 19-27n-95w, tested at 1.2 million cu. ft. of gas, five bbl. of condensate and 178 bbl. of water per day. The #11-1 Monument Lake in Section 11-22n-93w flowed 1.7 million cu. ft. of gas, nine bbl. of condensate and 101 bbl. of water a day. Four miles south-southwest, the company completed the #27-1 Monument in Section 27-22n-93w for 703,000 cu. ft. of gas, 25 bbl. of condensate and 92 bbl. of water a day. It also completed the #29-1 Buck Draw in Section 29-21n-92w in Monument Lake Field for 1.4 million cu. ft. of gas, three bbl. of condensate and 168 bbl. of water daily, according to IHS Energy. 11 Denver-based Davis Petroleum Corp. is completing a wildcat in the Red Desert Basin area of Sweetwater County, Wyo. The #27-6 Vermilion-Federal, in Section 27-24n-98w, about 34 miles northwest of Wamsutter is producing gas at an unstabilized rate from Lewis and Mesaverde perforations between 8,785 and 10,789 ft. Davis has built a pipeline to the site, which could mark the first production from Lewis in the vicinity. The Davis well is 1.5 miles northwest of the 2 Luman Rim-Federal, completed last year at a rate of nearly 2 million cu. ft. of gas and 105 bbl. of water daily from five fractured Mesaverde zones. 12 Tom Brown Inc., Denver, tested its #20-42 Maverick Draw-Federal discovery well in Section 20-45n-15w in northern San Miguel County, Colo., for 425,000 cu. ft. of gas a day. The well, about five miles south of Naturita, tested the Cutler, Honaker Trail and Ismay. The company shut in the well and may conduct additional work later. 13 Davis Petroleum Corp., Denver, has scheduled a remote wildcat to 6,350 ft. on the southeastern flank of the Paradox Basin in an area with no current production. The #1 Narraguinnep-Federal in Section 7-40n-15w in southern Dolores County, about 25 miles north of Cortez, will test Permian Cutler and Pennsylvanian Hermosa. The nearest well is some five miles south-southwest, where the #1-35 Narraguinnep-Federal tested at 434,000 cu. ft. of gas and 10 bbl. of water a day from Hermosa perforations. 14 Artesia, N.M., independent Yates Petroleum Corp. plans a wildcat to an undisclosed target in Section 21-21n-7w in Sandoval County in northwestern New Mexico. The #1 Beholder Beh-Federal-Com is 38 miles northeast of Crownpoint in the San Juan Basin, about 1.5 miles northeast of an abandoned Entrada oil discovery and two miles southwest of the three-well Alamito South Field, which produces from Pictured Cliffs, Chacra and Gallup formations at about 4,350 ft. 15 Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp., Oklahoma City, claimed a discovery from a well drilled on Spy Island, about four miles north of Oliktok Point, Alaska, in the Beaufort Sea. The #1 Nikaitchuq directional well started from a surface location in Section 16-14n-9e, Umiat Meridian, and drilled north-northeast to a bottomhole location in Section 9. It tested at a rate of 960 bbl. of 38-degree oil per day from the Sag River formation. The true vertical depth was 9,150 ft. Less than two miles southeast, the company completed its #2 Nikaitchuq as a delineation test to extend the Sag River pool downdip. Kerr-McGee is evaluating information from both wells, with 3-D seismic, to determine an appraisal drilling plan.