By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 31 -- Ultra Petroleum Corp., Houston, said its Mesa 10D-33 deeper pool wildcat in Wyoming's giant Pinedale field is at 17,504 ft and has been flaring gas continuously while drilling since topping the Cretaceous Blair shale formation at 16,204 ft.
The Blair section of the well was drilled with 17.6 lb/gal mud, which equates to more than 16,000 psi bottomhole pressure at this depth, with more than 500 ft of Blair yet to be drilled, Ultra said.
Tools became stuck in cement inside casing after liner was set, and the company is washing over the drill string to recover the fish to resume drilling toward the projected total depth of 19,500 ft to test the Blair and Hilliard formations.
Wireline logs "indicate a significant thickness of potential pay sand with better porosity than was seen at the Stewart Point 15-29 deep test," Ultra said (OGJ Online, Nov. 14, 2006).
