UK onshore
Bow Valley Energy Ltd., Calgary, spudded the West Compton-1 well, the first to examine prospects updip from giant Wytch Farm oil field in the Wessex basin, said partner Sterling Resources Ltd., Calgary.
On Petroleum Exploration and Development License 048, West Compton-1 is a tilted fault block at the western end of the Wessex high and 35 km from Wytch Farm.
The well will be directionally drilled in Sherwood sandstone.
The target depth is 1,800 m (1,060 m subsea), Sterling said. Spudded July 3, the well was expected to reach its target in 30-40 days. Sterling has 22.5% interest in the project.
Arizona
FLO-CO2 Inc., Odessa, Tex., started up a plant near Springerville, Ariz., that extracts carbon dioxide from gas produced from wells drilled in St. Johns field by Ridgeway Petroleum Corp., Calgary.
The plant started up at 100 tons/day and is expandable to 1,000 tons/day at the option of the plant operator. It is in Apache County on property leased from and adjacent to the Springerville Generating Station owned by Tucson Electric Power Co.
Ridgeway, which discovered the field in 1994, initially dedicated three wells to supply gas to the plant, which represents the company's first cash flow from the St. Johns project. The raw gas contains CO2, helium, and nitrogen. The field extends into Catron County, NM.
Wyoming
The Riverside 8-4 well on the Pine dale anticline recorded an initial production rate of 16.82 MMcfd of gas and 160 b/d of condensate from 13 stages on a 24-hour flow-back surface constrained on June 28th, said operator Ultra Petroleum Corp., Houston.
The well, drilled to 12,490 ft in Sublette County, is 1/4 mile due south of the Riverside 1-4 well.
Additionally, from the first stage only, the well tested 13.5 MMcfd on a 1-hour flow-back, notably without fracture stimulation and stabilized at 3.5 MMcfd within 3 days. Stage 1 includes the uppermost sand in the Mesaverde formation, and Ultra believes that most of the 13.5 MMcfd flow-back came from the Mesaverde.
Ultra said Riverside 8-4 would have tested well over 20 MMcfd if not constrained by surface facilities.