1 Italy-based ENI started developing its first operated project in Alaska. Nikaitchuq Field is offshore the North Slope in an average water depth of 10 ft. The company purchased the field from Anadarko in 2007 with estimated reserves of up to 180 million bbl. of oil. First oil is expected at the end of 2009. The company plans 70 wells—half production and half injection. A 40,000-bbl.-per-day processing facility will handle production before it is sent to the Kuparuk network, reports IHS Inc.

2 The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Department of Oil and Gas, is opening bids for competitive oil and gas leasing in Cook Inlet. The Cook Inlet area-wide 2008 sale includes four million acres located in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys, Anchorage bowl, western Kenai Peninsula from Point Possession to Anchor Point, within Cook Inlet and on its western shore from the Beluga River to Harriet Point. The deadline for bids is set for May 19, 2008. The method includes a cash bonus with a minimum bid of $10 per acre on all tracts. Additionally, all leases have a 12.5% royalty and a term of five or seven years as designated by the state.

3 Bakersfield, Calif.-based Foothills Resources Inc. is drilling its #GB 4 well to a projected depth of 9,300 ft. on the deep Grizzly Bear prospect underlying Grizzly Bluff Field in the Eel River Basin in Humboldt County, Calif. The upper section of the well is a twin to a well drilled in 1964 that flowed five million cu. ft. of gas a day from Lower Rio Dill. Objectives are deeper formations below and include thick Eel River, Pullen and Bear River sandstones that were encountered previously by a 1971 well. The lack of a gas market in the 1960s and ’70s caused these wells to be abandoned. Armed with 3-D seismic and previous drilling success, the company expects the Grizzly Bear prospect to become a major project.

4 Chico Martinez Field in Kern County, Calif., will be acquired and developed by Portrush Petroleum Corp., Vancouver. The 640-acre tract is in the San Joaquin Basin and contains two productive formations: Etchegoin between 400 and 1,500 ft. and Diatomite between 2,000 and 3,000 ft. The first formation produces 12.1-degree-gravity heavy oil and the second produces 26-gravity oil. South Belridge Field is two miles northeast and contains an estimated two billion bbl. Cymric Field is two miles southeast and holds an estimated 350 million bbl. Sixty-two wells have been drilled in Chico Martinez to date and 550,000 bbl. of oil have been produced from Etchegoin. The company is acquiring a 90% interest in the leases from Houston-based Petromark Energy Group.

5 The #32-11 State is slated for a nonproducing township on the northwestern flank of the Paradox Basin about 11 miles southwest of Green River, Utah. Petro-Canada (USA) Inc. plans to drill the well to 7,588 ft. in eastern Emery County 12 miles west-northwest of Salt Wash Field, a Mississippian pool. The venture is 12 miles west of #28-11 Samson-Federal, which flowed 4.32 million cu. ft. of gas with 794 bbl. of condensate a day from Pennsylvanian Paradox during initial tests. Petro-Canada’s corporate headquarters are in Calgary.

6 Utah will see its first offshore drilling since the 1980s. Calgary-based Pearl Montana Exploration & Production Ltd. has proposed a multi-well exploration program in northern Utah’s Great Salt Lake in Box Elder County, about 50 miles northwest of Salt Lake City. The first two wells in the program, #43-22 West Rozel-State and #41-16 Rozel-State, are in sections 22 and 16 of 8n-8w. The first well is projected to 2,999 ft. and the second to 2,600 ft. The wildcats will be drilled from a barge-mounted rig in the West Rozel Field area between Rozel Point Field northeast and Gunnison Island southwest. Pearl Montana acquired its interest in the area from Denver-based PetroHunter Energy Corp. for $30 million, which included interests in several heavy-oil projects. Rozel Point Field, which is now inactive, produced heavy crude (5-degree-gravity) from basalt above 300 ft. The most recent drilling in the Great Salt Lake was conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s, reports IHS Inc.

7 The #25-1 Richardson was completed by Austin, Texas-based Brigham Oil & Gas LP in Montana’s Williston Basin, Section 25-34n-55e, Sheridan County, about eight miles southeast of Plentywood. The well flowed 220 bbl. of oil equivalent a day with no water from a vertical Red River interval with good pressures, according to the company. The wildcat was set up to drill to Cambrian at 11,000 ft. Brigham plans to commence its next Red River test this month. The current venture is 2.5 miles south of abandoned Pronghorn Field, which produced 456,050 bbl. of oil, 288.4 million cu. ft. of gas and 1.14 million bbl. of water from Red River between 1983 and 2003. Wakea Field, which has produced from Red River and other pays, is 2.5 miles south.

8 Denver, Colo.-based Bill Barrett Corp. tested its #10-15 Draco in Section 15-4n-8e in Montana’s Park County, 34 miles north-northeast of Bozeman. The company established a rate of 225,000 cu. ft. a day from Upper Cretaceous Cody shale. The wildcat was set up as a 14,000-ft. test to Mississippian, and the well was noncommercial in zones in Mission Canyon and below. It has drilled a second well, #3-6 Leviathan (Arthun) in Section 6-4n-8e, with similar results to the Draco well.

9 Houston-based Murex Petroleum Corp. is attempting to gain temporary spacing and field boundaries for an oil pool discovered in North Dakota on the Nesson Anticline. The #27-34H Ryan Thomas is in Section 27-155n-96w, Williams County, 12 miles south-southwest of Tioga. The horizontal wildcat indicates a Bakken discovery although the company has disclosed no other completion details. The well is more than a mile northwest of Madison oil production on the western flank of Capa Field.

Meanwhile, another Bakken discovery was completed by Enid, Okla.-based Continental Resources Inc. 1.5 miles southeast of Stanley, N.D. The #1-35H Jean Nelson is in Section 35-156n-91w in northwestern Mountrail County. Continental has released no completion details, but has applied for temporary spacing and field boundaries for an oil pool. Stanley Field, which has produced four million bbl. of oil, 1.1 billion cu. ft. of gas and 8.7 million bbl. of water since 1976, is within a mile of the current discovery. Ross Field, a two-well accumulation, is 4.5 miles west-northwest. It has produced 83,012 bbl. of oil, 61.9 million cu. ft. of gas and 26,351 bbl. of water from Bakken between 2005 and 2007.

10 A central Wyoming wildcat will target Pennsylvanian Amsden in an undrilled township on the western flank of the Casper Arch, some two miles southwest of Casper. South Jordan, Utah-based Pioneer Oil & Gas has projected #1 Emigrant Gap-Federal to total depth of 4,000 ft. in Section 6-32n-80w, southeastern Natrona County. It is about eight miles east of Iron Creek Field. According to IHS Inc., #1 Goose Egg-Federal was drilled as a dry hole 3.5 miles west in 2001.

11 EOG Resources Inc., Houston, is expanding its search for?shale reservoirs amenable to horizontal drilling, reports The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal. The company has staked two locations in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin:?#3-19H Crossbow in Section 19-41n-71w, Converse County, and #01-16H Trans Am, in Section 16-45n-69w, Campbell County. The Crossbow well will likely test Niobrara, to a measured depth of 13,457 ft., and the Trans Am will test Niobrara, to a measured depth of 12,615 ft.