1 Ansbro Petroleum Co., Denver, picked a nonproducing area on the Utah Hingeline to drill its 12,807-ft. #33-23 Browns Peak-Federal. Located in southern Utah County, Utah, about 28 miles south of Provo, the directional well will be drilled from a surface location in Section 28-11s-4e north in the same section. The depth suggests Mesozoic sediments, including Nugget, are the targets, according to IHS Energy. The Ansbro well is in Manti-La Sal National Forest about 20 miles northwest of the nearest production from Clear Creek Field, a Ferron gas pool. The only current production on the Hingeline is 75 miles south-southeast in Covenant Field near Sigurd in Sevier County. 2 Continuing a campaign in the southern Uinta Basin of Utah, Bill Barrett Corp., Denver, plans three more wildcats aimed at Mesaverde and Mancos gas between 14 and 16 miles northeast of the town of Sunnyside in Carbon County. The #6-2-13-15 Prickly Pear Unit-State, in Section 2-13s-15e, will go to 9,725 ft. The #8-2-13-15 Prickly Pear Unit State in the same section is scheduled to 9,700 ft. The #8-36-12-15 Prickly Pear Unit-State in Section 36-12s-15e will drill to 7,150 ft. The new wells are approximated three miles west of a well in Peter's Point Field, a Barrett discovery that produced from Mesaverde at a rate of 857,000 cu. ft. of gas a day. Barrett has two more exploratory tests planned for the area. 3 J. Burns Brown Operating Co., Havre, Mont., permitted a Jurassic Sawtooth wildcat to 4,200 ft. on the Bearpaw Uplift in Blaine County, Mont. The #21-35-18B Listou is about 15 miles north-northwest of Chinook in Section 21-35n-18e. The test is a mile southeast of the company's #16-35-18B State, a 5,500-ft. directional well. No details have been released on that well. The nearest reported production is from the Eagle gas formation between 1,368-74 ft. about two miles southeast. 4 A horizontal redrill of a dry hole gave Chaparral Energy LLC, Oklahoma City, a 1,000-bbl.-a-day Bakken discovery in central Richland County, Mont. The #2-34H McVay also produced 1 million cu. ft. of gas and 70 bbl. of water a day from two fractured laterals. Tests were taken through a 16/64-in. choke. The well is some 23 miles northwest of Sidney in Section 34-25n-55e. The first lateral extended south-southwest from 10,085 to 13,948 ft., while the second lateral reached southeast from 9,502 to 13,828 ft. Both laterals bottomed in the same section. The redrill is 0.75-mile northeast of a Chaparral well in Girard Field. 5 Tidewater Oil & Gas Co. staked a remote Mississippian Mission Canyon (Madison) and Lodgepole test to 8,450 ft. in the northeastern Powder River Basin in southeastern Montana. The #18-21 Nast-Patten is about nine miles south of Broadus in Section 18-6s-52e in Powder River County. The Denver independent's well is eight miles west of the nearest production in Rough Creek Field, which produces from Muddy. The closest Madison production is 90 miles northeast in Lookout Butte Field on the Cedar Creek Anticline in Fallon County, Mont., according to IHS Energy. 6 Denver-based Prima Exploration Inc. plans a wildcat just south of the U.S. border with Canada about seven miles north-northeast of Flaxton in Burke County, N.D. The company's #44-28-164-90H Steamboat probably will be a dual-lateral horizontal well aimed at the Midale and Nesson zones of Madison from a surface location in partial Section 28-164n-90w. Prima's well is a mile northeast of the abandoned discovery well for Entry Field. That well cumulatively produced 2,300 bbl. of oil, 3.2 million cu. ft. of gas and 1,300 bbl. of water from Midale perforations between 5,443-59 ft. between April 1957 and March 1958. 7 North Dakota's original field gave Amerada Hess Corp., New York City, a horizontal Bakken discovery testing at 401 bbl. of oil, 353,000 cu. ft. of gas and 44 bbl. of water a day. The #36-31H State well in Beaver Lodge Field, seven miles south of Tioga in Section 36-156n-96w, Williams County, produced from an open-hole Bakken lateral from 10,152 to 13,261 ft. measured depth. Beaver Lodge Field produces from Madison, Devonian, Silurian and Ordovician, but the closest Bakken is more than four miles north in the dual-lateral #1-12H Stacey Lynne discovery in Section 1-156n-96w. That well tested at 463 bbl. of oil, 512,000 cu. ft. of gas and 12 bbl. of water a day. 8 Houston Exploration Co., Houston, permitted five 2,500-ft. wells in a quest for Dakota formation gas in a nonproducing area of west-central South Dakota on the west end of the Sioux Uplift. The wells are between 25 and 40 miles northwest of Pierre in northwestern Stanley County. They include the #7-4 Black Butte in Section 4-7n-26e, the #16-20 Barrick in Section 20-7n-27e, the #11-14 Black Butte in Section 14-8n-25e, the #7-34 Standing Butte in Section 34-8n-27e and the #11-21 Orton Flats in Section 21-9n-27e. The nearest production is between 32 and 44 miles northwest in Lantry Field, an isolated Red River pool in Dewey County that produced 150,100 bbl. of oil and 6.3 million bbl. of water. The nearest gas production is 140 miles west-northwest in the northwestern corner of the state. No wells have been drilled in the county since 1982. 9 Denver independent Peter K. Roosevelt staked a wildcat in Section 31-9s-3e about 4.5 miles south of Edgemont in Fall River County, S.D. The company will drill its #7-31 Heppner on the Black Hills Uplift to a depth of 2,000 ft. to Triassic Spearfish. Roosevelt staked a similar well a half-mile southwest. The nearest production is from Leo in Porter Ranch and Edgemont fields more than four miles northwest. 10 Yates Petroleum Corp., Artesia, N.M., tapped four pay zones in the Wind River Basin for a discovery that tested at 1.54 million cu. ft. of gas and 147 bbl. of water a day. The #1 High Noon-Federal, in Section 32-36n-87w in northwestern Natrona County, Wyo., is about six miles west-southwest of Waltman. The well tested three fractured Lance intervals between 7,937 and 8,557 ft. and one Meeteetse zone from 8,778 to 8,967 ft. through a 22/64-in. choke. The discovery is a mile west-northwest of a well in the northwestern corner of Cooper Reservoir Field. That well flowed 511,000 cu. ft. of gas a day from one Lance section. 11 Southwestern Wyoming's Jonah Field continues to reward operators with strong production. EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., Calgary, tested the #6-19 Hacienda in Section 19-28n-108w in Sublette County for 1.25 million cu. ft. of gas, three bbl. of condensate and 13 bbl. of water a day. Production came from three fractured Lance intervals between 8,038 and 9,298 ft. through a 40/64-in. choke. The nearest producer is 1.25 miles southeast where the #5-29 Hacienda Federal discovery tested at 994,000 cu. ft. of gas, 60 bbl. of condensate and 88 bbl. of water a day; also from three Lance intervals. From early 2001 to November 2004 it produced 114.9 million cu. ft. of gas, 1,147 bbl. of condensate and 5,452 bbl. of water, said IHS Energy. 12 Paine Petroleum Co. LLC, Colorado Springs, will drill a wildcat in Section 23-18n-53w, Banner County, Neb. The Denver-Julesburg Basin well is approximately 18 miles southwest of Bridgeport. Paine will examine the J Sand to 5,500 ft. at its #1 Olsen-Johnson. The new well is 0.75-mile west of abandoned Olsen Field with dry holes between the field and the wildcat. The nearest well in that field, the #2 Johnson Estate-B, tested at 240 bbl. of oil and 60,000 cu. ft. of gas a day from J Sand. 13 A 12,000-ft. wildcat is on the drawing boards for Western Gas Resources Inc., Denver. The company will drill its #10-4 Plymouth Rock in a nonproducing area of the Sand Wash Basin about 40 miles northwest of Craig in Section 4-8n-97w in central Moffat County, Colo. The nearest production is in Powder Wash Field 15 miles north. Although most production from the field is from shallower Wasatch and Fort Union, one 13,525-ft. well showed an initial potential of 832,000 cu. ft. of gas and 332 bbl. of water a day from a fractured Mesaverde interval between 9,006 and 12,066 ft. It has never been connected to a pipeline. 14 The 2004-05 winter drilling season closed on the North Slope of Alaska with nine wildcats drilled, five onshore and four offshore, according to IHS Energy. The most active driller was Kerr-McGee Corp., Oklahoma City, as its six wells marked the first time in recent years that an independent drilled more wells than a major. ConocoPhillips Alaska drilled the other three.