1 The FEX LP subsidiary of Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, plans as many as eight exploratory wells in the northwestern part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The wells will be drilled south of Cape Simpson and west of the Ikpikpuk River, according to IHS Energy, and the company will abandon all of the wells before the end of the winter drilling season. The well sites are in Township 15n-11w, Umiat Meridian. The closest drilling was the #1 Puviaq in Section 35-16n-10w, but no details were released on that well. FEX already has landed supplies and equipment, and when ice conditions permit, it will build a 31-mile ice road to the well sites, water sources and airstrips. The main camp will house up to 120 people. 2 A preliminary finding of approval paves the way for Healy, Alaska-based Usibelli Coal Mine Inc. to explore in the Healy Basin of Alaska in Denali Borough east of Denali National Park. Exploration could affect the communities of Healy, Anderson, Cantwell, Ferry and McKinley Village, according to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. The 10-year, $500,000 work commitment covers only exploration for natural gas in shallow coalbeds in the area. 3 EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., Denver, armed with a new deeper-capacity drilling rig, will resume drilling its deep gas well seven miles east of Mattawa in southwestern Grant County, Washington. The company's #1 Anderville Farms is in Section 6-14n-25e. The previous rig had set surface casing to 1,500 ft. The new rig will take the well to a planned depth of 14,000 ft. The site is about five miles northwest of Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. The only previous drilling to a similar depth was the #1-9 BN, about five miles north-northeast. There, Shell Western drilled to 17,518 ft. and conducted an extensive drilling program, measuring gas flows to 3.1 million cu. ft. a day. 4 Petrogulf Corp., Denver, plans a couple of new-field wildcats in California's San Joaquin County. Both are in Township 3s-6e and the company did not disclose target formations other than to say it was looking for natural gas. The company's #1-7 Matsuoka in Section 7 is 5.7 miles southeast of the town of Tracy and 1.5 miles southwest of Vernalis Field, a Panoche producer. The #1-18 Reinstein is in Section 18. It is 6.6 miles southeast of Tracy and 1.6 miles west of Vernalis Field. 5 Two wildcats in Nevada's Railroad Valley were permitted by Makoil Inc., Orange, Calif. The ventures both are in Township 7n-57e in northeastern Nye County, about 65 miles southwest of Elko. The company's #19-43 West Bacon Flat is in Section 19. That well is projected to 6,200 ft. The #18-43 West Bacon Flat well is less than a mile north in Section 18, and it is planned to 6,510 ft. Nevada targets typically are oil-bearing zones and the probable target for these two wells are Devonian Guilmette. The #19-43 well is a mile south-southwest of Bacon Flat Field and more than a mile west of Grant Canyon Field, according to IHS Energy. Both fields produce from Guilmette. The discovery well for Bacon Flat Field, the #8 Railroad Valley, tested at 270 bbl. of oil and 631 bbl. of water a day and produced a cumulative 314,640 bbl. of oil and 3.6 million bbl. of water from 1981 until late 1988. 6 Enduring Resources LLC, Denver, will look for Mesaverde gas at a couple of Uinta Basin wildcats about 2.5 miles southeast of Bonanza in Uintah County, Utah. It will drill both wells from the same pad in Section 6-10s-25e. Enduring will drill the #10-25-11-6 Southam Canyon as a vertical hole, and it will drill the #9-24-44-36 Southam Canyon as a directional well to the northwest to a bottomhole location in Section 36-9s-24e to a depth of 6,922 ft. The wells are some three miles southeast of Bonanza Field, where the #2D-27 Bonanza produced 24.3 million cu. ft. of gas, 423 bbl. of condensate and 3,712 bbl. of water from Mesaverde during its first 10 months online. It now produces at stripper rates. 7 Utah's Paradox Basin will see action as EnCana Oil & Gas USA drills its #36-14-29-24 Middle Mesa-State wildcat to 7,350 ft. about 28 miles southeast of Moab in northeastern San Juan County, according to IHS Energy. The operator didn't disclose the objective for the well, staked in Section 36-29s-24e, but probably includes Honaker Trail and Ismay intervals. A mile west-southwest lies the company's #35-24 Big Indian discovery well, completed earlier this year for 2.1 million cu. ft. of gas a day from Honaker Trail. The well produced 77.7 million cu. ft. of gas, 139 bbl. of condensate and 230 bbl. of water in its first two months online. 8 Klabzuba Oil & Gas Inc., Fort Worth, will drill for Cambrian at its #31-7-32-22B Venus wildcat seven miles west of Fort Belknap in central Blaine County, Mont. The 6,500-ft. well is just west of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Section 31-32n-22e. The company will evaluate the Upper Cretaceous Judith River, Eagle, Telegraph Creek, Niobrara, Second White Specks formations and Jurassic Sawtooth on the way down the hole. The well will drill about 10 miles southeast of Chinook Field, an Eagle gas producer. 9 A horizontal discovery five miles west of Sidney in southeastern Richland County, Mont., flowed 405 bbl. of oil, 203,000 cu. ft. of gas and 173 bbl. of water a day from Bakken. Headington Oil LP, Dallas, drilled the #14X-15 O'Brien in Section 15-22n-58e and produced from a lateral reaching north from 10,571 ft. to 19,868 ft. The bottomhole location is in Section 10. The closest Bakken production is 2.5 miles north at Headington's #42X-4 Atchison. That dual-lateral Bakken well produced an average 295 bbl. of oil, 106,400 cu. ft. of gas and 95 bbl. of water a day during May. 10 The JMG Exploration Inc. affiliate of JED Oil Inc., Calgary, brought in a single-lateral horizontal Bakken discovery but revealed no test details for its #3-9HD Rindel in eastern Divide County, N.D. The well is in Section 9-162n-96w, about six miles west-southwest of Noonan. The company drilled the well south toward a projected bottomhole location in Section 16. A dual-lateral horizontal Bakken discovery 4.5 miles east-southeast, the #44-7H Miller in Section 7-162n-95w, showed an initial potential of 140 bbl. of oil, 130,000 cu. ft. of gas and 125 bbl. of water a day. 11 A horizontal wildcat will look for Madison production about seven miles south of Parshall in northwestern McLean County, N.D. Ryan Exploration Inc., Denver, has asked for a permit for a 1,280-acre permit area-all of Section 1-150n-90w and Section 36-151n-90w. The company has not assigned a specific well for the area. The unit is between three and five miles northwest of Lucky Mound Field, which produces from Madison. Two dry holes have been drilled to date on the property. 12 Denver-based Delta Exploration Co. Inc. brought in a discovery as its #36-31 Diamond-State tested at 3.5 million cu. ft. of gas a day with no fluids on the northern flank of the Wind River Basin. The well is in Section 36-39n-93w in northeastern Fremont County, Wyo., about eight miles northeast of Shoshoni. The 17,540-ft. well produced from four fractured Mesaverde zones between 16,214 and 17,270 ft. through an 18/64-in. choke. After completion, the company moved its rig 0.75-mile southwest to drill the #36-13 Diamond State to 18,600 ft. in the same section and will then drill the #36-33 Diamond-State, also in the same section. 13 Questar Exploration & Production Co., Salt Lake City, tested at a rate of 1.8 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent a day at the first well in its Vermillion Basin exploration program in Sweetwater County, Wyo. The #1 Alkali Gulch Unit in Section 12-12n-100w is about 48 miles southeast of Rock Springs and about two miles north of the Colorado border. The well produces from three Cretaceous zones, Baxter, Frontier and Dakota between 11,316 and 14,259 ft. The well is 1.5 miles north-northwest of shallower production, and the closest deeper production is on the southern flank of Kinney Field four miles north-northeast. 14 Benson Mineral Group Inc., Denver, has lined up three wildcats in western Nebraska on the northeastern edge of the Denver-Julesburg Basin. The wells are between three and six miles northeast of Dalton. The #1 Lessman is in Section 2-17n-49w in southern Morill County and will test Niobrara to 3,600 ft. Also a Niobrara test, the #1 Smith in Section 24-17n-49w in northern Cheyenne County will drill to 3,750 ft. Finally, the #1 Beyer, also in Cheyenne County, will test J-Sand to 4,600 ft. in Section 21-17n-48w. The #1 Lessman is almost two miles northeast of the abandoned Eaglet Field discovery, according to IHS Energy.