1 Despite backing by California’s Governor Arnold Schwar­zenegger, a bipartisan senate committee, Santa Barbara County, two dozen environmental groups, state firefighters and peace officers, the California State Assembly in Sacramento rejected a plan for new offshore drilling leasing, the first since 1969. The Tranquillion Ridge proposal by Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production looked for a one-time exemption to the state’s long-term moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf leases. The bill is one of several measures under consideration as a means to create revenue to help reduce the state’s $26-billion deficit. The Tranquillion Ridge project proposes to use an existing platform, slant drilling, and facilities operating off the Santa Barbara coast to access oil and gas reserves. Plains officials plan to continue to push for project approval.

2 In the Lake Canyon area of the Uinta Basin southwest of Duchesne, Utah, Denver-based Berry Petroleum Co. has completed a wildcat as a Green River discovery. IHS Inc. reported that #6-12-57 LC-Fee pumped oil at an initial rate of 52 bbl. per day, with 129,000 cu. ft. of gas and 71 bbl. of water on completion. The Duchesne County well produces from four fracture-stimulated Green River intervals at 3,469-3,724 ft.; 3,936-4,034 ft.; 4,230-4,420 ft.; and 4,592-4,730 ft. The discovery was drilled to 5,070 ft. in Section 12-5s-7w, southwestern Duchesne County. Log tops include Green River at 805 ft.; Douglas Creek 3,240 ft.; Castle Peak 4,203 ft.; Uteland Butte 4,527 ft.; and Wasatch at 4,788 ft. One-half mile east-northeast of the new producer, Berry has staked a 4,840-ft. test of Green River but no activity has been reported at that site.

3 An EOG Resources Inc. proposal calls for drilling approximately 604 gas wells from 454 new well pads within the LaBarge Platform area of Sublette County in western Wyo­ming. Plans submitted to the BLM Pinedale Field Office propose year-round infill drilling and exploration through 2019. The wells and support facilities will be built on federal, state, and private land. Formations targeted include Almy, Transition Zone, Mesaverde, Baxter, Frontier and Dakota and well depths will range from 1,000 to 10,000 ft. EOG is based in Houston.

4 Artesia, N.M.-based Yates Petroleum Corp. completed a Lewis/Mesaverde wildcat discovery in the Sand Wash Basin of northwestern Colorado. The #1 Big Hole Gulch Unit initially flowed 1.6 million cu. ft. of gas and 155 bbl. of water per day. Drilled to 9,903 ft. in Section 8-11n-94w, northern Moffat County, the discovery produces from three fractured intervals— two in Lewis at 8,008-8,311 ft. and 8,607-50 ft., and one in Mesaverde at 9,808-46 ft. Flowing casing pressure was 580 psi.

5 Julander Energy Co. of Denver plans to drill a horizontal wildcat in Carbon County, Wyo. The #15-1-4H Cow Creek Butte Unit will be in Section 15-16n-90w and will evaluate the oil potential of the Ilabelle sand. IHS Inc. reported that the well will be drilled north-northeast to a bottomhole location in the same section. True vertical total depth is anticipated at 4,325 ft. The Julander drillsite is east-northeast of Deep Creek Field, which has produced from Mesaverde and Shannon zones.

6 A horizontal completion by Continental Resources in McKenzie County, N.D., flowed 995 bbl. of oil equivalent per day during a one-week test. The #2-35 Mathistad is a Three Forks/Sanish well in Section 35-150n-96w and companion to #1-35H Mathistad that averaged 1,095 bbl. of oil equivalent per day in July 2009. The #2-35 Mathistad is part of Blue Buttes Field and produced from Middle Bakken after being drilled horizontally to approximately 19,670 ft. The producer is on 1,280-acre spacing and was fracture-stimulated in 14 stages. The Enid, Okla.-based company will be drilling additional wells to determine which reservoirs are separate across the play.

7 South of Larson, N.D., XTO Energy Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, completed a horizontal exploratory test that initially flowed 118 bbl. of oil, 118,000 cu. ft. of gas and 317 bbl. of load water per day. The #44X-18 Dick is in Section 18-161n-94w, western Burke County. Production is from a horizontal lateral stimulated in five stages. The lateral extended in the Three Forks formation from 9,268 ft. northwestward to a measured total depth of 14,622 ft. Flow was measured through an 18/64-in. choke with a tubing pressure of 250 psi. Formation tops include Bakken at 8,838 ft.; Middle Bakken dolomite, 8,856 ft.; Lower Bakken, 8,894 ft.; and Three Forks at 9,071 ft.

8 Oil flowed at a rate of 1,838 bbl. per day, with 1.9 million cu. ft. of gas, during an early flow-back period at a Brigham Oil & Gas LP horizontal Bakken well. The new producer is in Section 28-155n-92w of Mountrail County, N.D., with a bottomhole location in Section 33-155n-92w. The #1H Anderson 28-33 was fracture-stimulated in 24 stages. Log tops reported are Upper Bakken at 10,059 ft.; Middle Bakken, 10,073 ft.; Lower Bakken, 10,128 ft.; and Three Forks at 10,175 ft. Brigham owns a 66% working interest and 55% net revenue interest. Brigham is headquartered in Austin.

9 About eight miles south-southwest of Killdeer, N.D., Mara­thon Oil Co. of Houston has completed a Dunn County horizontal exploratory test that initially flowed 288 bbl. of oil, 141,000 cu. ft. of gas and 130 bbl. of water per day. The #31-1H Ell is in Lot 2 of Section 1-144n-97w, and produces from a fractured openhole lateral in Middle Bakken extending from 11,209 ft. southward to a total measured depth of 20,304 ft. at a bottomhole location in Section 12-144n-97w. Flow was measured through an 11/64-in. choke with a casing pressure of 860 psi. Formation tops reported from the site are Upper Bakken at 11,130 ft. and Middle Bakken at 11,190 ft. The Marathon well was drilled on a 1,280-acre spacing unit comprised of sections 11 and 12 on Marathon’s Ajax prospect.

10 Flowing 1,248 bbl. of oil, 821,000 cu. ft. of gas and 3,250 bbl. of load water daily, Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (ConocoPhillips) of Houston completed a horizontal Dunn County, N.D., wildcat. The discovery, #11-23H Catalina, is west of Killdeer in Section 23-145n-96w, and produces from seven fractured stages between 11,274 and 19,847 ft. in a lateral in Middle Bakken. The casing pressure was 1,080 psi on a 12/64-in. choke. Formation tops include Upper Bakken at 11,046 ft. and Middle Bakken at 11,092 ft.

11 Evertson Operating Co. Inc. of Kimball, Neb., has staked a 6,950-ft. Nebraska Panhandle wildcat targeting the D and J sands. The planned well is on the northeastern flank of the Denver-Julesburg Basin about six miles northwest of Kimball. The #33-8 Lukassen is in Section 8-15n-56w, Kimball County, and will be drilled east-southeast of the Wolfcamp (Permian) discovery for Dill Field.

12 A Wiepking-Fullerton Energy LLC stepout flowed 37-degree-gravity oil at an initial rate of approximately 1,500 bbl. per day from an isolated Great Plains Field discovery near Limon, Colo. The #1 Aloha Mula is in Section 19-10s-55w in Lincoln County, and was choked back to a flow rate of 634 bbl. of oil, 370,000 cu. ft. of gas and 55 bbl. of water per day on a 32/64-in. choke: current production averages more than 600 bbl. of oil per day. The well produces from an acidized and perforated Pennsylvanian Cherokee A interval at 7,110-18 ft. Total depth is 8,053 ft. in Warsaw. A drillstem test of Cherokee at 7,114-40 ft. recovered 7,140 ft. of highly gas-cut oil. Oil surfaced nearly five minutes into the test at a rate of about 1,500 bbl. per day. The top of Cherokee was logged at 7,106 ft. The Englewood, Colo.-based company has leasehold of about 25,000 acres in the vicinity and several drilling permits, including seven additional 8,400-ft. tests.