1 ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., Houston, will drill three wildcats between January 2007 and June 2010 at its Intrepid prospect on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the North Slope. The wells are #1 Intrepid in Section 6-19n-19w, #2 Intrepid in Section 11-19n-20w and #3 Intrepid in Section 22-19n-20w. If successful, the company would tie production back to other ConocoPhillips sites in the area. The prospect lies south of Barrow and immediately south of Walakpa Field, a gas accumulation. Under standard operating rules, the company will build ice roads to the drillsites, according to IHS Inc.



2 A wildcat will target the Jacob's Ladder Unit on the North Slope of Alaska. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, Texas, will drill the first well from an onshore ice pad some 17 miles southwest of the Badami Unit and 20 miles southeast of the town of Deadhorse. The exploratory unit covers 37,982 acres and 18 oil and gas leases in parts or all of sections 29 through 32 in Township 9n-17e, sections 25 through 36 in Township 9n-16e, sections 1 through 3 and 10 through 15 in Township 8n-16e, sections 1 through 18 and 22 through 24 in Township 8n-17e and sections 3 through 10 and 16 through 21 in Township 8n-18e, Umiat Meridian. The exploration program will evaluate Lisburne (Wahoo) and Sadlerochit (Ivishak) groups. The exploratory unit is 10 miles east of the TransAlaska Pipeline System and between six and 18 miles southeast of Prudhoe Bay Field.



3 Orchard Petroleum Inc., Ventura, Calif., plans to drill #1-27 Heavenly wildcat to evaluate the Forbes formation for gas in Section 27-13n-1e in Colusa County, Calif. The proposed well is 12.2 miles east of the town of Arbuckle, and the nearest production comes from Kirk Field, a Forbes pool 1.1 miles east.



4 A new-field wildcat will look for gas in an undisclosed formation at an undisclosed depth in Merced County, Calif., for Cimarex Energy Co., Denver. The company will drill its #1-1 Seasholtz well in Section 1-8s-12e, IHS Inc. reports. That location is 12.4 miles northwest of Chowchilla Field, a Zilch sand producer, and 6.1 miles south of the town of Atwater.



5 Dallas-based Petro-Hunt LLC plans #35A-3-1 Vonda H Christ Family in Central Utah's Hingeline play to Jurassic Navajo at 16,700 ft. about 3.5 miles west-northwest of Ephraim in Sanpete County, Utah. The well is in Section 35-16s-2e, about 50 miles north-northeast of Covenant Field near Sigurd in Sevier County. No well has been drilled in the township. This well is in Petro-Hunt's proposed Wales Exploratory Unit, which, if approved by the state, would cover all or parts of land in townships 15s-2e, 15s-3e, 16s-2e, 16s-3e and 17s-2e. The company also wants compulsory unitization of all wells in the area. Dry holes have been drilled about six miles north-northeast and 1.5 miles southeast.



6 Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, will look at nonproducing Wayne County, Utah, with a remote wildcat some 33 miles west-southwest of the closest production in Salt Wash Field in adjacent Grant County. That field produces from Paradox formations. Cabot will drill its #1 Point of Rocks about 40 miles southwest of the town of Green River in Section 26-27s-13e, but it didn't disclose a target depth or formation. Salt Wash Field has produced a cumulative 1.55 million bbl. of oil, 11.8 billion cu. ft. of gas and 808,200 bbl. of water from Mississippian formations, including Leadville from 8,500 to 8,900 ft. since 1960. The nearest drilling to the Cabot wells is almost two miles south-southeast, where #1 South Hanksville State reported oil shows in Moenkopi, Hermosa, Paradox and Mississippian zones.



7 Huntington Energy LLC, Oklahoma City, received a permit for #1-6 Nybakken to Duperow at 6,400 ft. in Section 6-29n-42e about 12 miles northeast of Nashua in a nonproducing area of Valley County in northeastern Montana. The well is some 11 miles southwest of Lustre Field, which has produced some 6.6 million bbl. of oil, 1.6 billion cu. ft. of gas and 22.9 million bbl. of water from Madison formations shallower than 6,200 ft. since 1982. There is no Duperow production in the area, although a dry hole 4.5 miles north-northwest recovered 1,095 ft. of water-cut mud from Duperow between 6,808-52 ft.



8 The Bakken formation in northeastern Montana produced a discovery for Chaparral Energy LLC, Oklahoma City. The #1-18 Olivia lies about 15 miles south of Culbertson in Section 18-25n-56e in northern Richland County, and produces from two openhole horizontal laterals: one southeast to a measured depth of 14,795 ft. and the other south-southwest to 14,472 ft. The nearest production is 2.6 miles east-northeast, where #1-23H Thelma tested for 1,141 bbl. of oil, 849,000 cu. ft. of gas and 1,293 bbl. of water in three days from a dual-lateral Bakken well.



9 Samson Resources Co., Tulsa, Okla., brought in a discovery for an undisclosed amount of oil from a dual-lateral Bakken well in northern Divide County, N.D. The company's #25-36-163-99H Strom, in Section 25-163n-99w, included one lateral to the northwest to a measured depth of 14,111 ft. and another southwest to 14,588 ft. at a bottomhole location in Section 36. The true vertical depths are 8,317 ft. The nearest production from Bakken in this area is nine miles southeast where a single-lateral horizontal Bakken well tested for 179 bbl. of oil with 207,000 cu. ft. of gas and 415 bbl. of water a day.



10 Its first discovery welcomed Marathon Oil Co., Houston, to the horizontal Bakken play on the North Dakota side of the Williston Basin. Although the company didn't reveal test details, it applied to the North Dakota Industrial Commission for temporary spacing and field limits for its #24-12H Marlin wildcat in Section 12-146n-95w, about seven miles north of the town of Killdeer in central Dunn County, IHS Inc. reports. The closest Bakken production is a horizontal discovery called #34-22H Fedora about 4.5 miles southeast. That well tested for 368 bbl. of oil, 212,000 cu. ft. of gas and 97 bbl. of water a day from a fractured openhole interval.



11 Marathon Oil Co., Houston, plans a pair of wildcats some eight miles northeast of Sinclair on the southwestern flank of the Hanna Basin in Central Carbon County, Wyo. It will drill #11-35 St. Mary's in Section 35-22n-85w to 9,715 ft. to an undisclosed objective. The other well is #11-27 Cedar Ridge, about two miles northwest in Section 27 of the same township. That well is scheduled to 9,808 ft. The closest production came from the discovery well for Cedar Ridge Field 2.5 miles north. That well produced 568 bbl. of oil from Steele and Shannon intervals between 7,322 and 9,940 ft. in the 1980s.



12 An Overthrust Belt wildcat tested for 2.16 million cu. ft. of gas a day with 106 bbl. of condensate and no water for Fairways Offshore Exploration Inc., Houston. It drilled #1-8 Federal in Section 17-19n-119w in southwestern Lincoln County, Wyo., to Mission Canyon (Madison) at a total depth of 17,037 ft. in Section 17. The company tested the well on a 2-in. choke through perforations between 15,130 and 15,350 ft. The nearest production from Mission Canyon is two miles south in the northern end of the Whitney Creek-Carter Creek complex.



13 Shakespeare Oil Co., Salem, Ill., plans a wildcat to evaluate D and J sands to 4,900 ft. in Cheyenne County, Neb., on the northeastern flank of the Denver Julesburg Basin. The #1-14 Biggs will be drilled in Section 14-14n-49w about three miles northeast of Sidney and almost two miles northeast of the abandoned Duff Field. That field produced 52,900 bbl. of oil from D and J sands, according to IHS Inc.



14 Denver-based Central Operating Inc. will drill a 4,300-ft. wildcat to Lansing-Kansas City about eight miles east of Benkelman in southeastern Dundy County, Neb. The #16-15 State, in Section 16-1n-36w, will drill about a mile east-southeast of Loren Field's discovery well and a mile northwest of Montie Field, both Lansing-Kansas City producers. The single-well Loren Field tested for nine bbl. of oil a day from an interval between 4,094-98 ft. and has produced a cumulative 17,000 bbl. of oil and 9,000 bbl. of water.



15 ExxonMobil Corp. plans a massive expansion of its Piceance Creek and Freedom units west and southwest of Meeker in Rio Blanco County, Colo. The project could add up to 1,080 wells on as many as 120 well pads on 29,680 acres of land. The major oil company would drill up to nine wells from each pad.