1 Berkley Petroleum Corp. , Calgary, has reached a final total depth of 18,011 ft. at the Berkley et al. #2 Berkley East Lost Hills, an indicated discovery in Section 36-25s-20e MD, Kern County, Calif. Berkley drilled to a temporary total depth of 17,650 ft., penetrating approximately 1,250 ft. of Miocene Temblor objective. Numerous lost circulation zones were encountered and gas was flared for several hours. After running seven-in. liner to 17,650 ft., the company resumed drilling and found approximately 360 ft. of additional Temblor formation. Gas, with condensate, was flared from the openhole interval between 17,650-18,011 ft. Completion work is to begin after 4.5-in. liner is run to 18,011 ft. Berkley says it's under way at two additional Temblor wildcats in Kern County. The company is drilling at 18,490 ft. in Temblor at the #3 Berkley East Lost Hills in Section 20-26s-21e and below 7,744 ft. at the 20,000-ft. #4 Berkley East Lost Hills in Section 27-26s-21e. 2 Also in Kern County, Tri-Valley Oil & Gas Co. , Bakersfield, says it has received its permit to drill the #1 Sunrise-Mayel in Section 4-25s-25e MD. The company is ready to commence operations at the wildcat, just west of the city limits of Delano, in California's Great Central Valley. Tri-Valley notes the Sunrise Project is part of its inventory of 700 California oil and gas leads and prospects, which are now being evaluated and prioritized for drilling. 3 The Interior Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register announcing the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on proposed exploratory drilling offshore Santa Barbara County, Calif. The EIS will identify and assess potential impacts and mitigation associated with proposals to drill five to eight delineation tests on three undeveloped units in the Santa Maria Basin and one undeveloped unit in the western Santa Barbara Channel. The MMS reports that, tentatively, a draft version of the EIS will be published for broad public review next summer. 4 An Ordovician Red River producer is indicated at a deeper-pool wildcat drilled by Dallas independent Headington Oil LP in Montana's Crane Field. IHS Energy Group reports Headington has set pipe on bottom at 12,058 ft. at the #34X-2 Bakken-Larson in Section 2-21n-58, Richland County. A drillstem test in the Red River "C" burrowed and laminated zones between 11,888-11,965 ft. yielded a pipe recovery of 1,375 ft. of highly-gas-cut oil and the water cushion. The sample chamber held 1,400 cc of oil and 2.28 cu. ft. of gas. 5 Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. , Houston, is drilling the #1 Carbon County, a remote wildcat in Section 32-7s-21e, Carbon County, Mont., according to the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal. Lower Cretaceous Greybull is to be tested to a depth of 13,000 ft. Another remote wildcat being drilled in Montana is in Stillwater County. It's the #31-18 Colgrove, Section 18-3s-21e, where Ballard Petroleum LLC , Billings, is drilling below 1,390 ft. toward a projected depth of 4,700 ft. in Jurassic Morrison. 6 Montana's Wibaux County is the site of two remote wildcats, one scheduled by Sinclair Oil Corp. , Salt Lake City, and the other by Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. , Houston. Sinclair is moving in rotary tools at the 8,100-ft. #1 Irma in Section 15-16n-60e, where Pennsylvanian Tyler Sand is the objective formation. Burlington has been issued a state drilling permit for its horizontal #41-27H BR-Sharpshooter. A test of Red River with a projected measured depth of 15,745 ft., the venture is to be drilled from a surface location in Section 27-14n-58e. True vertical depth is to be 10,373 ft. The horizontal leg is estimated at 5,050 ft. 7 Lower Devonian Duperow gave up a flow of 696 bbl. of oil per day at a shallower-pool discovery being tested by Nance Petroleum Corp. in MonDak Field, McKenzie County, N.D. Nance's prospect is the #16-28X Federal in Section 28-148n-104w. IHS Energy Group notes the information was made available by St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. , Nance's Denver-based parent company, which owns a 56.25% interest in the well. 8 Drilling is under way at the Flying J Oil & Gas Inc. #8-4 Zabolotny in Section 4-144n-98w, Billings County, N.D. The North Salt Lake, Utah, operator's venture, scheduled to test Red River below 13,000 ft., is a deeper-pool wildcat in Little Knife Field. 9 An exploratory well, a little more than a mile south of the opener of Alkali Butte North Field in Wyoming's Fremont County, flowed at an initial rate of 3 million cu. ft. of gas per day. Snyder Oil Corp. completed the #2-5 North Alkali Tribal producing from 6,862-80 ft. in Cretaceous Lakota. The extension is on Shoshone/Arapahoe Indian lands in Section 5 of partial Township 2s-6e. 10 Metairie, La.-based Eastern Minerals International plans to drill a wildcat at the #1 Anadarko Minerals in Section 29-21n-86w, Carbon County, Wyo., according to the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal. The project, scheduled to be drilled to 13,000 ft., has Pennsylvanian Tensleep as its objective. The drillsite is on the Grenville Dome. 11 R.L. Hrbek and Jim Snyder have set pipe to test Cretaceous Greenhorn and Dakota at a remote wildcat they drilled in Dundy County, Neb., reports IHS Energy Group. The prospect-the #1 Freehling in Section 26 of partial Township 1n-42w-bottomed at 2,597 ft. Shows of oil were reported while drilling in Greenhorn at 2,240-50 ft. 12 Hell's Hole Canyon Field in Colorado's Rio Blanco County was extended nearly 0.75-mile south-southwest with the completion of Coastal Oil & Gas Corp. 's #9130 Hell's Hole flowing 907,000 cu. ft. of gas per day. Houston-based Coastal's successful stepout is producing from Dakota between 7,000-7,102 ft. It's in Section 13-2s-104w. 13 Two San Luis Basin remote wildcats, both scheduled to be drilled to 15,000 ft. to granite basement, have been staked by Hyperion Resources (Colorado) Ltd. in Township 43n-11e, Saguache County, Colo., according to IHS Energy Group. The Lakewood, Colo., company, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Hyperion Resources Corp. , plans to test the gas potential of Dakota at both the #3 Baca in Section 33 and #4 Baca in Section 28. The new locations are on fee leases on the Baca Ranch within the unsurveyed Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4. 14 Phillips Alaska Inc. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. have announced the start of production at Alpine Field on Alaska's North Slope. Production, which started with nine wells yielding 35,000 to 40,000 bbl. of oil per day, is expected to reach a peak gross amount of 80,000 bbl. per day. Gross recoverable reserves are estimated at 429 million bbl. The companies note Alpine is the largest onshore oil field discovered in the United States in more than a decade. In more news concerning Phillips Alaska, the company is continuing the permitting activities for this winter's North Slope exploration program. The company plans to drill several tests on two prospects-Nanuq, south of Alpine Field and Atlas, west of the Kuparuk River Unit. Additionally, the U.S. Minerals Management Service has approved an exploration plan and associated oil spill contingency plan for the company's McCovey exploration project in the Beaufort Sea. Phillips Alaska plans to directionally drill one well on OCS Block 6515 to about 14,400 ft. during the stable solid-ice period from now until May. The test will be drilled on the 28,500-acre McCovey Unit, which includes three federal and four state of Alaska leases. 15 BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. has scheduled an exploratory test on the North Slope at the #S-201 Prudhoe Bay Unit-SHB, which is to be directionally drilled from a surface location in Section 35-12n-12e, Umiat Meridian. IHS Energy Group notes the hole is expected to bottom under Section 27-12n-12e. The venture is in the northwestern portion of the Prudhoe Bay Unit about a mile east of the opener of Aurora Field and 20 miles northwest of Deadhorse.