Area Drilling

Louisiana

Termo Co., Long Beach, Calif., acquired about 1,800 acres of leases in Section 28 salt dome field, St. Martin Parish, from Apache Corp.

The leases, producing more than 200 b/d of oil equivalent, adjoin existing Termo holdings, making it the main leaseholder there.

Termo plans an aggressive exploitation program.

Texas South

The Exploration Co., San Antonio, said its 2-25E Paloma well in Prickly Pear field of Maverick County cut at least 40 ft of reef that appears to be capable of gas production.

Electric and mud logs indicate the well will be an "excellent" producer even though the zone may have lower porosity than most other wells in the field, the company said.

The company signed an agreement with Exco Resources to jointly drill Glen Rose reef prospects that may be developed on Exco's 2,880 acres of leases. The first well is to spud in early January 1999.

Gulf Coast

Brammer Engineering, Shreveport, staked a southwest offset to a discovery in Hardin County.

The 1A Black Stone, about 7 miles northeast of Sour Lake, is projected to 13,500 ft.

The discovery is Brammer's 1 Black Stone. It flowed 6.879 MMcfd of gas with 224 b/d of 53.3° gravity condensate on a 14/64 in. choke from Eocene Yegua perforations at 10,702-726 ft.

Adobe Energy was drilling a 15,000 wildcat in the immediate area in late 1998, Petroleum Information/Dwights LLC reported.

TransTexas Gas Corp. plans an early 1999 flow test for its fourth well in Eagle Bay field in Galveston Bay, which wireline logs indicate will extend the field into a second fault block.

Logs indicate that the 1 State Tract 330, drilled from shore to TD 17,000 ft measured depth just off San Leon, has 83 net ft of high quality pay with porosity of as much as 30%.

The company said interpretation of the log results and 3D seismic data allow an increase to more than 15 of the number of potential well locations to be drilled in the field.

Meanwhile, the field's first three wells were producing a combined 55 MMcfd of gas and 9,000 b/d of condensate in mid-December.

TransTexas planned to deepen to 22,500 ft a well that flowed gas during drilling on its Trout Point prospect in Chambers County just east of Galveston Bay.

The 1 Sheldon is a sidetrack of the 1 State Tract 197, drilled previously to 20,318 ft as a test of Frio and Vicksburg on the downthrown side of a major fault.

Trans-Texas drilled 3,865 ft of salt section in the sidetrack portion before encountering a series of drilling breaks and gas shows indicating sands beneath the salt.

The well began to flow gas, and the drillstring was lost below 14,000 ft during pressure control operations. The company plans to sidetrack to re-evaluate the reflector package to 22,500 ft.

Wyoming

McMurry Oil Co., Casper, Wyo., staked a deep test in the Jonah field area in western Wyoming.

The 8-12 Yellow Paint, in 12-28n-109w, Sublette County, is projected to 20,000 ft or Cretaceous Frontier and Dakota, PI reported. The field produces mainly from Cretaceous Lance and Mesaverde. A second deep test might be drilled later.

Ultra Petroleum Corp., Denver, and partners are expanding drilling in the Pinedale/Jonah area of Sublette County, where 15 of 16 wells drilled this year have encountered significant intervals of overpressured gas in Cretaceous Lance.

Ultra's gross production rose to 49 MMcfd in November from 37.6 MMcfd in October. The wells have encountered the top of overpressured gas in Lance at 7,763-10,037 ft, within pay sand intervals averaging 490 net ft.

Wells drilled on the Mesa portion of the Pinedale anticline all encountered commercial quantities of overpressured gas sands.

In the Studhorse Butte area of Jonah field, 16 wells were averaging a combined 40.1 MMcfd in November. Average well cost has been reduced nearly 20% during the year due to drilling and completion efficiencies.

Redwood Energy Ltd. and Canadian 88 Energy (USA) Inc., both of Calgary, plan to deepen an exploratory test to evaluate Mississippian Mission Canyon on the Overthrust Belt.

The 14,000 ft, directional well is to be drilled in 10-19n-120w on the 7,029 acre Windy Point Federal Unit in Lincoln County 35 miles north of Evanston and 4 miles northwest of giant Whitney Canyon/Carter Creek field. The prospect is analogous to a recent large foothills discovery by Canadian 88 near Waterton, Alta.

The re-entry is to spud around mid-January 1999.

Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. let a 3 year contract to Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa, to drill a series of wells to 25,000 ft in the Madden Deep Unit of the Wind River basin.

The first well, 5-6 Bighorn, is to start this winter.