Area Drilling

India

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma are studying cores of Precambrian basement rocks from Bombay High oil and gas field to determine whether they may have been affected by meteorite impact.

Dr. Sankar Chatterjee at Texas Tech University, in studying mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, mapped an apparent buried oblate feature 600 km long, 450 km wide, and 12 km deep carved through Deccan traps and into underlying Precambrian granite. If of impact origin, this Shiva crater would be the largest impact feature of Phanerozoic age, exceeding the Chic- xulub crater off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula (OGJ, May 11, 1998, p. 69).

Bombay High field, with reserves exceeding 1.4 billion boe, produces from Miocene limestones overlying the crater's apparent central uplift.

Pakistan

A well was plugged for safety reasons after drillstem testing hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide in Eocene Sui Main limestone in the Middle Indus basin.

American Energy Group Ltd., Houston, said its Hycarbex-American Energy unit plugged David 1A at TD 3,578 ft on the 1 million acre Jacobabad Concession. The well did not reach Cretaceous Pab Ranikot sandstone, expected around 4,800 ft.

The drill site is 8 miles northwest of Kharnhak 1, an indicated 1998 discovery with gas shows in 700 ft of Sui and 260 ft of Pab. A drillstem test of Sui yielded no H2S or CO2. TD is 8,250 ft with casing set to 7,500 ft.

Papua New Guinea

A group led by Santos's Barracuda Ltd. unit spudded Tumu* 1 in eastern PPL 213 in early April.

The planned 2,150 m test is to evaluate Cretaceous Toro sandstone in the Papuan Highlands about 50 km north of Juha gas field.

Colorado

Energy Operating Co., Denver, sought a state permit to drill a wildcat in the nonproducing San Luis Valley.

The 1 Williamson, in 23-1n-72w, in nonproducing Costilla County, is projected to 7,500 ft or Cretaceous Dakota. This area, 5 miles north of the New Mexico line and 10 miles south of the town of San Luis, is far from production, IHS Energy Group reported.

Lexam Explorations (U.S.A.) Inc., Lakewood, Colo., assembled 150,000 acres of leases in Saguache and Alamosa counties in the mid-1990s (OGJ, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 78). Lexam found oil in shallow minerals holes and ran seismic, but the block has not undergone deeper drilling.

Louisiana

Meridian Resource Corp., Houston, plans to drill more wells in the North Turtle Bayou/Ramos field 3D seismic project area.

Its 1 Thibodaux, in 36-16s-13e, Ramos field, Assumption Parish, cut more than 223 ft of pay in three Operc-aged sands below 17,500 ft. Initial completion is planned in the deepest, which logged 61 ft of gross and net pay at 19,124-185 ft.

Flow was 12.664 MMcfd of gas plus 1,224 b/d of condensate at 13,285 psi FTP on a 16/64 in. choke. Bottomhole shut-in pressure was calculated at about 18,000 psi.

Interest holders MRC, Burlington Resources Inc., and private investors are installing surface facilities with capacity of more than 80 MMcfd of gas and 5,000 b/d of condensate and plan to drill more wells on this accumulation and adjacent fault blocks. Sales should begin in June.

Oklahoma

Enron Oil & Gas Co. staked a remote wildcat on the Ouachita Thrust Belt.

The 1 Weyco, in 10-1n-23e, LeFlore County, is projected to 8,850 ft and will penetrate Atoka, Jackfork, and Stanley, IHS reported. It is about 25 miles east-southeast of Potato Hills gas field.

Texas

Gulf Coast Maxima Resources, Corpus Christi, completed an Eocene Yegua exploratory test in Jackson County.

The 1 Smith Gas Unit went on line at 1 MMcfd of gas with 4,500 psi FTP on a 6/64 in. choke with 31 b/d of oil from 7,026-50 ft. CAOF is 13 MMcfd and 402 b/d.

Parallel Petroleum Corp., Midland, Tex., with 20% working interest in the well, said four more wells drilled on 3D seismic prospects in the Yegua/Frio Gas Trend in the first quarter are under completion.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, opened production from the Cruel sandstone of Eocene Wilcox in Kacee field, Colorado County.

The 2-3 Cooper, 5 miles south of Rock Island, flowed 14.1 MMcfd of gas with 96 b/d of oil with 4,425 psi FTP on a 20/64 in. choke from about 11,900 ft.

This and two earlier wells are flowing a combined 40 MMcfd of gas equivalent. A fourth well was drilling in late April, and two more offsets are possible.

East Power Exploration Inc., Fort Worth, said a well with two 1,000 ft laterals has produced a combined 75 b/d of oil from unconsolidated Corsicana sands.

The well, 4 miles east of Corsicana in Corsicana field, Navarro County, is being placed on production. One lateral contains 1,000 ft of laser-cut liner; the other is open hole.

Titan Energy Corp., Fort Worth, acquired Power Exploration last year. Titan acquired 650 oil wells on 4,500 acres in Corsicana field from Rife Oil Properties Inc., Fort Worth, in 1997.

Utah The Utah Geological Survey has published Digital Geologic Resources Atlas of Utah, Bulletin 129DF, on CD-Rom.

The disk contains oil and gas, oil shale, tar sands, geothermal, coal, minerals, water, and geographic data in ArcView format. USG and other agencies have collected the data for more than 50 years.