1 Seitel Inc., Houston, says its wholly owned subsidiary, DDD Energy, has participated in a gas discovery on the Tonga Project in Yolo and Solano counties, Calif. The discovery, the #1-13 T.S. Glide that's operated by Wichita-based Slawson Exploration Co. Inc., encountered 124 ft. of net pay from six zones. Two of the zones were tested for a combined rate of 4.6 million cu. ft. of gas per day. The well is in Section 13-8n-1e MD, Yolo County. DDD Energy, owner of a 33.3% working interest in the Tonga Project, and its partners expect to drill three additional exploratory tests on the project before the end of this year. 2 Silurian Upper Stonewall, a new pay opened by Choctaw II Oil & Gas Ltd. at the #1-2 Larsen Farms in Montana's Bainville II Field, gave up an initial flow of 500 bbl. of oil, 400,000 cu. ft. of gas and 135 bbl. of water per day. IHS Energy Group reports Houston-based Choctaw's shallower-pool discovery is a workover in Section 2-27n-58e, Roosevelt County. Stonewall, perforated at 12,190-12,200 ft., was tested on an 18/64-in. choke. The well originally was completed in 1986 producing from Ordovician Red River at 12,614 ft. Elsewhere in Roosevelt County, Furst Engineering Inc., Shamong, N.J., recovered oil on a drillstem test run at 10,933-71 ft. in Devonian Duperow at its #2-11 Picard, Section 11-29n-58e, Target Field. Pipe recovery at the apparent deeper-pool discovery included approximately 6.1 bbl. of oil and drilling mud. The sample chamber contained 1,100 cc oil, a trace of water and .26 cu. ft. of gas. Furst is waiting on completion tools at the 12,986-ft. prospect. 3 Western Montana is to see new remote exploration, with wildcats scheduled by Grand Operating Inc., Dallas, in Gallatin County and Fortuna (U.S.) Inc., Calgary, in Cascade County. Grand has applied for a permit to drill an 8,500-ft. wildcat in Section 3-2n-7e. Meanwhile, projected depth is 6,425 ft. at the #1-29 Fortuna-Sieben, a Mississippian wildcat staked by Fortuna in Section 29-14n-1e. The venture, scheduled to bottom in Bakken, has Madison as its primary objective. 4 Nance Petroleum Corp.'s Gunton shallower-pool discovery in Montana's Brush Lake Field was confirmed when Nance pumped an average of 152 bbl. of oil and 7 bbl. of water daily over a 10-day period at the #8-11 Melby, Section 11-33n-58e, Sheridan County. The confirmation is a workover of a Red River well that produced from 11,428-34 ft. The well is now producing through perforations at 11,065-82 and 11,091-11,106 ft. Nance's Gunton pool opener is the #7-1 Ibsen in irregular Section 1-33n-58e, about a mile northeast of the #8-11 Melby. 5 Ritchie Exploration Inc., Wichita, gauged a flow of 623 bbl. of oil and 1.15 million cu. ft. of gas per day at the #1 Brown, a Red River "B" discovery in Section 9-145n-94w, Dunn County, N.D. Perforations are at 13,349-60 ft. The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal reports the completion details were contained in documents Ritchie filed with the North Dakota Industrial Commission in support of the company's request for 320-acre spacing. The publication notes the well is on the eastern flank of Killdeer Field, a Duperow pool. Also in Dunn County's Killdeer Field area, about 3 miles to the northwest in Section 36-146n-95w, Houston independent Edward Mike Davis completed the #34-36 State as a discovery in Duperow. According to state records, the well produced approximately 3,680 bbl. of oil in May. 6 North Dakota's Billings County is the site of a horizontal Madison discovery completed by Belco Oil & Gas Corp., New York City. According to IHS Energy Group, state records show the #2-24H Richards produced approximately 515 bbl. of oil in an undisclosed number of days in May. The well is in Section 24-138n-100w. 7 A subthrust Upper Cretaceous Frontier producer has been completed by Barrett Resources Corp., Denver, in Wyoming's Waltman Field flowing 20.258 million cu. ft. of gas and 148 bbl. of water per day. Barrett's #6-29 Cave Gulch-Federal, Section 29-37n-86w, Natrona County, was tested on a 28/64-in. choke. The well, which is producing through four intervals at 17,131-92 ft., 17,244-59, 17,531-46 and 17,770-92 ft., was set up as a test of subthrust Lower Cretaceous Muddy. It was drilled to a total depth of 19,125 ft., cased to 18,174 ft. and plugged back to 18,022 ft. for completion in Frontier. 8 Target depth is 16,000 ft. at the #2-16 Gold Coast State, a wildcat Camwest Exploration LLC, Denver, is drilling in Sweetwater County, Wyo. Located in Section 16-25n-102w, the venture is being drilled to evaluate Upper Cretaceous Blair and the Muddy. The drillsite is on the Gold Coast federal unit. 9 Houston independent Wolverine Gas & Oil Co. has staked a wildcat, the #A4-33 Pacific Creek Federal, that's about 30 miles southeast of large gas reserves that are being developed at Jonah Field and along the Pinedale Anticline in Sublette County, Wyo. The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal notes the objective of this venture is Cretaceous Mesaverde at a depth of 13,860 ft. Wolverine's new test, in Section 33-27n-103w, reportedly is the first of a five-well drilling program the company plans to carry out in the area. Wolverine is said to have assembled an 80,000-acre block within 27n-28n, 103w-106w. 10 DKS Energy LLC, Orem, Utah, is set to drill a 15,500-ft. wildcat at the #33-34 Hercules in Section 33-33n-84w, Natrona County, Wyo. The projected depth presumably is deep enough to evaluate Cretaceous and Jurassic formations. IHS Energy Group says the project is 2.5 miles northeast of Austin Creek Field, a Muddy pool, and 3 miles southwest of Poison Spider West Field, which has produced from several Cretaceous and Jurassic pays generally above 16,000 ft. 11 A wildcat on the northern flank of the North Park Basin in Colorado's Jackson County is proposed by Denver independent P&M Petroleum Management LLC. The #1 Dunaway, in Section 27-10n-79w, is scheduled to be drilled to a depth of 6,650 ft. in order to test formations through Triassic Chugwater. The new location is about midway in the two-mile gap that separates two fields-Battleship Field to the north and McCallum Field to the south. 12 Phillips Alaska Inc. and Chevron USA Inc. have announced a new venture agreement for exploration and development of Alaska's North Slope with Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. The two-part exploration alliance includes nearly 150,000 acres on the North Slope and the Beaufort Sea. The alliance provides for proportional ownership of seven leases containing approximately 28,504 acres offshore Prudhoe Bay in the proposed McCovey Unit. Under the agreement, AEC Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of Alberta Energy, will earn a 33.3% interest in the area leases through a farmout agreement in the initial test. In addition, Phillips Alaska and Chevron will each hold a 33.3% interest in the proposed unit. Phillips Alaska is the exploration and development operator. The second part of the alignment agreement includes approximately 114,262 acres in the Grizzly Gomo Prospect area, south of Kuparuk Field. AEC will earn a 20% interest in the area, while Phillips Alaska and Chevron will each hold a 40% interest. Drilling could occur in this area in the 2001-2002 winter season. 13 Orion Resources LLC, Houston, says it has jointly formed an Alaskan limited liability company, Aurora Gas LLC, which will hold its Alaskan oil and gas interests. The new company, with offices in Houston and Anchorage, is equally owned by Orion and Aurora Power Resources Inc. Aurora Gas LLC holds approximately 10,000 net acres of exploratory leases in the Cook Inlet area of Alaska, including a 100% interest in the Nicolai Creek Unit. The unit was recently acquired from Unocal Alaska Resources and Marathon Oil Co. The field, which was originally discovered by Texaco in 1966, has been shut in since the late 1970s. Aurora Gas currently is proceeding with the permitting process with the objective of initiating redevelopment of the field. Reserves for the unit are estimated to be approximately 15 billion cu. ft. of gas, but there is scope to increase reserves to more than 30 billion cu. ft. with further drilling, according to Orion.