1 An Eocene Wilcox discovery made by Devon Energy Production Co. LP, Portland, Texas, in Zapata County, Texas, yielded a flow of 6.741 million cu. ft. of gas and 118 bbl. of water per day, reports IHS Energy Group. The #21 Haynes, in Antonio Zapata Survey, A-106, was tested on an 18/64-in. choke through perforations at 12,542-76 ft. 2 Contour Energy Co., Houston, says it has entered into an exploration agreement covering two large areas of mutual interest (AMIs) with Collier & Ely, a privately held exploration company. Contour will have a 25% working interest in a 64,000-acre AMI in San Patricio and Bee counties and a 33% working interest in a 58,000-acre AMI in Jim Wells and Duval counties. Included in its participation, Contour will have rights to 190 square miles of new 3-D seismic data covering both AMIs. Nearly 20,000 gross acres are currently under lease and an additional 29,000 acres are under seismic option. Contour expects to participate in 8 to 12 tests in this program by the end of the year. 3 A deep discovery completed by Oklahoma City independent Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp. in Goliad County, Texas, tested 10.4 million cu. ft. of gas per day, says Remington Oil & Gas Corp., owner of a 20% interest in the well. The #1 Swickheimer, William Reed Survey, A-246, has pipe set on bottom at 16,570 ft. A second discovery has been finaled by Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, this one the #5 Dugat "A" in Harvey Martin Survey, A-335, Lavaca County, Texas. The company tapped Wilcox, perforated between 13,365-14,404 ft., for a flow of 1.801 million cu. ft. of gas and 20 bbl. of water per day on a 16/64-in, choke. 4 A Wilcox discovery completed by Union Pacific Resources Co. in Goliad County, Texas, flowed 1.696 million cu. ft. of gas, 57 bbl. of condensate and 142 bbl. of water per day. IHS Energy Group notes Fort Worth-based UPRC drilled the #1 Jank in A. Benedict Survey, A-78, and tested it on a 16/64-in. choke through perforations between 12,750-12,960 ft. 5 Flow gauge was 232 bbl. of oil, 795,000 cu. ft. of gas and 42 bbl. of water per day at the #1 Millberger, an Oligocene Frio discovery made by Hydrocarbon Lease Management Co. in Matagorda County, Texas. The company, based in Plano, Texas, used an 18/64-in. choke on the test. Perforations are at 9,535-51 ft. at the new producer, in Burnett & Sojourner #29 Survey, A-13. 6 Louisiana's Garden City Field, in St. Mary Parish, gained a Miocene discovery when 3Tec Energy Corp., Houston, completed the #1 Amy Wiggington Aycock flowing 6.5 million cu. ft. of gas and 160 bbl. of condensate per day. The well, in Section 60-15s-10e, yielded the flow on a 13/64-in. choke through perforations at 14,762-80 ft. 7 McMoRan Exploration Co., New Orleans, encountered 67 net ft. of gas pay in two zones while drilling to a total depth of 12,800 ft. at the #1 OCS-G-15303, a discovery on Ship Shoal Block 296 in the Gulf of Mexico. IHS Energy Group reports the company plans to drill the #2 test from about the same location, which is in 264 ft. of water. In the northern Gulf, McMoRan is under way at two wildcats. They are the 10,425-ft. #1 OCS-G-15919 (McMoRan 95% interest) on Garden Banks Block 580 and the 10,415-ft. #1 OCS-G-15541 on Green Canyon Block 90. 8 Magnum Hunter Resources Inc., Irving, Texas, says it has participated in two gas discoveries in the shallow water shelf area of the Gulf of Mexico. On South Marsh Island Block 235, the company drilled to a true vertical depth of 10,670 ft. and logged in excess of 74 net ft. of gas/condensate pay in Miocene sands at the #1 OCS-G-15231. Basin Exploration Inc., Denver, operates South Marsh Island blocks 234 and 235 with a 75% working interest. Magnum Hunter owns the remaining 25% working interest in both tracts. On South Timbalier Block 250, an exploratory well was recently drilled to a depth of 5,500 ft. with approximately 60 net ft. of gas pay in a Pleistocene sand being logged. Magnum Hunter and Chieftain International Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, each own a 50% working interest in the block. Magnum Hunter and its affiliates will operate the production from this discovery, expected to commence sometime during the first quarter of 2001. 9 A Initial Plan of Exploration proposed by Elf Exploration Inc., Houston, calls for work on three contiguous blocks in about 7,700 ft. of water in the Mississippi Canyon area. According to the plan, the first test will be drilled from Block 876 to a bottomhole location on Block 832. Two additional tests are planned for Block 876, while a fourth may be drilled on Block 875. IHS Energy Group notes Elf (87.5%) and Spinnaker Exploration Co. LLC (12.5%) leased the three blocks at OCS Sale 172 in March 1999. 10 Drilling is under way at the Mariner Energy Inc. #1 OCS-G-16864, a wildcat in 3,462 ft. of water on Atwater Valley Block 177. Mariner, headquartered in Houston, plans to drill to a bottomhole location to the north on Block 133. Elsewhere in the Atwater Valley area, Shell Deepwater Development has permitted a wildcat at the #1 OCS-G-12265 on Block 113. The drillsite is in 6,224 ft. of water. 11 Texaco Exploration & Production Inc. is drilling below 12,000 ft. at a wildcat in 6,680 ft. of water on Walker Ridge Block 456. Proposed depth is 27,000 ft. at the #1 OCS-G-16993. An Initial Plan of Exploration filed earlier this year says as many as five tests could be drilled on the block. This is only the third wildcat to be drilled in the Walker Ridge area. About 12 miles to the east-northeast, BHP Petroleum (GOM) Inc. is set to drill a wildcat at the #1 OCS-G-16987. The venture is in 8,844 ft. of water on Walker Ridge Block 425. 12 The #1 OCS-G-15919 is a wildcat scheduled to be drilled by McMoRan Oil & Gas Co. in the northeast portion of Garden Banks Block 580. The location is in 2,200 ft. of water. According to an Initial Plan of Exploration, two additional tests may be drilled in this quadrant of the block. 13 Spinnaker Exploration Co., Houston, says that two successful exploratory wells have been drilled in the High Island Block 202 project area. Both wells were drilled from a common surface location in 65 ft. of water on Block 202 and were successful in finding productive Discorbis 12-1 and 12-2 sands, each in a different fault block. One well, the #4 OCS-G-14870, was drilled to a total depth of 8,235 ft. Spinnaker operates that well with a 75% working interest and 62.1% net revenue interest. The second test, the #1 OCS-G-21346, was drilled to a total depth of 8,613 ft, bottoming on Block A-18. The company operates that well with a 100% working interest (80.8% net revenue interest). Spinnaker notes at least one and possibly two prospective Discorbis fault blocks remain to be tested from the Block 202 surface location, both on Block A-19 that's owned 100% by Spinnaker and immediately south of Block 202. 14 Keathley Canyon Block 199, in 5,620 ft. of water, is the site of the #1 OCS-G-19517, a wildcat being drilled by Marathon Oil Co., Houston. IHS Energy Group notes this is just the second wildcat to be drilled in Keathley Canyon. An Initial Plan of Exploration filed by Marathon a year ago outlined four locations on Block 199, with a fifth proposed for Block 155 to the north. 15 Mississippi's Missionary field in Jasper County has a new, shallower producing reservoir in Jurassic Upper Cotton Valley, the result of recompletion work accomplished by Par Minerals Corp., Shreveport. The Southeastern Oil Review says the discovery, the #1 Timber Realization Co. 11-11 in Section 11-3n-12e, flowed 650 bbl. of oil per day (the allowable) on a 14/64-in. choke through perforations at 11,524-28 ft. and 11,532-37 ft. The well previously produced from 11,547-49 ft. 16 A new producing Dantzler Sand reservoir was found in Hub Field in Marion County, Miss., with the completion of Shreveport independent Skrivanos Engineering Inc.'s #1 Hub Gas Unit flowing 2.64 million cu. ft. of gas and 110 bbl. of condensate per day. According to the Southeastern Oil Review, the shallower-pool opener, in Section 20-2n-14e, flowed on a 16/64-in. choke through perforations at 10,472-78 ft. It originally produced from Lower Cretaceous "12,270" Paluxy Sand at 12,277-12,324 ft.