1 EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., Calgary, is doing exploratory work on a large land position it accumulated in south-central Washington. The company delayed drilling for a larger drilling rig and is now drilling again at its wildcat in Section 6-14n-25e, about seven miles east of Mattawa in southwestern Grant County. It spudded the #1 Anderville Farms late last year and set surface casing to 1,550 ft. The new rig has the muscle to reach its 14,000-ft. objective. The company has released no information on the well approximately five miles northwest of the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. The nearest drilling was the #1-9 BN, more than five miles south. That abandoned well was drilled to 17,518 ft. for 3.1 million cu. ft. of gas a day from perforations between 13,694 and 14,678 ft., says IHS Energy. 2 Makoil Inc., Las Vegas, recovered an unspecified amount of oil during swab tests on a 1,510-ft. wildcat in Railroad Valley, Nev. The #36-33 East Inselberg is about 55 miles southwest of Ely in Section 36-10n-56e in northeastern Nye County. The well, currently undergoing tests, is 1.5 miles north of Trap Spring Field and a half-mile south-southwest of the proposed #36-1 Little Giant well scheduled to 1,500 ft. Trap Spring Field produces from Tertiary Garrett Ranch volcanics at depths shallower than 4,600 ft. Makoil has moved the rig a mile east-southeast to drill the Makoil/FX #6-31 Radio to 3,815 ft. 3 Southern Arizona will host two stratigraphic tests more than six miles northeast of Eloy, southeast of Phoenix as El Paso Natural Gas Co., Houston, plans two 4,500-ft. tests in Pinal County. The #1-20 State is in Section 20-7s-8e and the #1-11 State is 3.5 miles northeast in Section 11 of the same township. El Paso owns a pipeline in the area and announced plans to drill up to three underground gas-storage caverns nearby, according to IHS Energy. The tests are nearly 183 miles southwest of an unnamed Shinarump field. 4 Gasco Production Co., Englewood, Colo., brought in a discovery flowing 880,000 cu. ft. of gas a day at its #41-19-11-16 Gate Canyon wildcat in southeastern Duchesne County, Utah. The company drilled the well in Section 19-11s-16e, about 23 miles northeast of Sunnyside, Utah, on the southwestern flank of the Uinta Basin. After drilling to 11,925 ft., the company tested the well in Wasatch, Mesaverde and Blackhawk (Mancos), but it didn't release further details. The well is more than four miles east of Gasco's #31-21-11-15 Gate Canyon-State discovery, which flowed gas at an initial rate of 1.1 million cu. ft. of gas a day from the same three formations. 5 The #9P-36-14-19 Flat Rock-Ute Tribal discovery well, in Section 31-14s-20e in southern Uintah County, Utah, produced at an initial rate of 3.8 million cu. ft. of gas a day. The QEP Uinta Basin Inc. subsidiary of Questar Corp., Salt Lake City, directionally drilled to a measured depth of 12,453 ft. in the same section and tested Dakota, Cedar Mountain, Morrison and Entrada through an 11/64-in. choke with 1,427 psi of flowing casing pressure. A half-mile southeast, the 3-6-15-20 North Hill Creek well produced an average 8 million cu. ft. of gas and 11 bbl. of water a day during October 2004. 6 In Section 35-25n-53e, northwestern Richland County, Mont., Dallas-based Headington Oil LP tested 1,112 bbl. of oil, 589,000 cu. ft. of gas and 135 bbl. of water daily from two fractured open-hole lateral Bakken intervals in its #21X-35 Carda. The well, about 23 miles southeast of Poplar, included Lateral #1 to the north-northwest to a measured depth of 14,248 ft. to a bottomhole location in Section 26, and Lateral #2, which was drilled south-southwest to 13,600 ft. in Section 35. The operator completed another dual-lateral Bakken well four miles north for an initial 451 bbl. of oil, 236,000 cu. ft. of gas and 215 bbl. of water a day, says IHS Energy. 7 St. Mary Land & Exploration Co., Denver, subsidiary Nance Petroleum Corp., Billings, Mont., tapped three Bakken dual-horizontal-lateral producers in Richland County, Mont. The #2-15H Franz, drilled about 10 miles west-northwest of Sidney in Section 15-23n-57e, tested at 490 bbl. of oil and 200,000 cu. ft. of gas a day. The second Nance well was 1.5 miles west of the #2-15H. This one, the #4-16H in Section 16 of the same township, tested at 600 bbl. of oil and 240,000 cu. ft. of gas a day. The third well, the #12-22H Larson, in Section 22-23n-58e, tested at the rate of 320 bbl. of oil and 170,000 cu. ft. of gas a day. 8 Denver-based Ansbro Petroleum Co. LLC plans a wildcat in Section 25-152n-89w, some five miles southwest of Plaza in southeastern Montrail County, N.D. No previous wells have been drilled in the township. The company's #23-25 VIG presumably will target Madison intervals about three miles west-southwest of Plaza Field. That field has produced 3.24 million bbl. of oil, 2.08 billion cu. ft. of gas and 2.59 million bbl. of water from the Bluell (Mission Canyon) segment of Madison between its discovery in 1989 and February this year from 12 active wells. Those wells produced 4,000 bbl. of oil 1.34 million cu. ft. of gas and 15,045 bbl. of water a day in February. 9 Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., Denver, completed a Birdbear (Nisku) dual-horizontal discovery about 22 miles north-northeast of Sentinel Butte, N.D. The company's #32-4 Federal tested at an initial 192 bbl. of oil, 134,000 cu. ft. of natural gas and 133 bbl. of water a day on pump in Section 4-143n-103w in northern Golden Valley County. Lateral #1 produced from an interval from 11,017 to 14,892 ft. to the south-southeast. The second lateral traveled south-southeast and produced from an interval between 11,249 and 14,892 ft., measured depth. 10 Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., Denver, has three wildcat wells in planning stages for northwestern South Dakota. The subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc., Bismarck, N.D., wants to drill all three wells to Red River "C" in Harding County. The #44-18 State is in Section 18-18n-6e and is almost 15 miles south-southeast of production from Red River on the southeastern flank of Buffalo Field, the oldest in South Dakota. Fidelity's second wildcat is the 8,600-ft. #14-36 State in Section 36-20n-5e, about six miles southeast of Buffalo Field. The third exploratory effort is the #14-20 Gilbert-Fee in Section 20-18n-5e, scheduled to 8,000 ft., about five miles south of Buffalo and 14 miles south of Buffalo Field. 11 Yates Petroleum Corp., Artesia, N.M., found success in a Pinedale Anticline discovery well that produced 585,000 cu. ft. of gas and 76 bbl. of water a day from three fractured Lance/Mesaverde zones from 13,332 ft. to 14,451 ft. The #1 Southeast Pinedale Unit is in Section 27-3n-107w in Sublette County, Wyo. Yates tested the well through a 24/64-in. choke. 12 Berexco Inc., Wichita, Kan., staked a Cambridge Arch wildcat venture to 4,500 ft. about two miles northeast of Benkelman in southwestern Nebraska. The #10-4 Ronald in 4-1n-37w, southeastern Dundy County, is scheduled to Lansing-Kansas City about 1.5 miles south of the discovery well for Acro Field. That well, the #3-33 Ham, initially produced 113 bbl. of oil a day from Lansing-Kansas City on pump from perforations between 4,242-#47 ft. From late 1995 through the end of last year, it produced 57,306 bbl. of oil and 92,078 bbl. of water. 13 Sterling, Colo.-based Walsh Production Inc. will drill a wildcat to D and J sands above 6,800 ft. about five miles west-northwest of New Raymer in Weld County, Colo. The #1-35 Peterson is in Section 35-8n-59w in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. The prospect is 0.75-mile from the abandoned discovery well for Line Camp Field. 14 In western Colorado, active driller EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., Calgary, brought in a couple of discoveries. The #8008A-H28-498 Figure Four tested 2.79 million cu. ft. of gas a day with no fluids about 23 miles northwest of Parachute in Section 28-4s-98w in northern Garfield County, says IHS Energy. The well produced from nine fractured Mesaverde zones, six in Williams Fork between 6,122 and 7,910 ft., another between 7,988 and 8,038 ft. in Rollins, one in Cozzette from 8,110-42 ft. and the last in Sego between 8,594 and 8,834 ft. It tested the well through a 32/64-in. choke. 15 Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee Corp. has scheduled a second wildcat on its Ataruq prospect on the North Slope of Alaska, some 21 miles east-northeast of Nuiqsut. The #2A Ataruq, off the western flank of Kuparuk River Unit, will be drilled directionally from Section 8-11n-8e, Umiat Meridian, south to a bottomhole location in the same section looking for Kuparuk Sand potential.