Area Drilling

May 14, 2007

Spain

Sherritt International Corp., Toronto, is awaiting final regulatory approval to begin work on four blocks in the Alboran Sea off southern Spain.

The company was awarded permits in March 2007 to explore the blocks, which total 818,261 acres. Planned work includes a 3D seismic survey and contingent wells.

Oregon

Torrent Energy Corp., Portland, Ore., determined that 580 bcf of coalbed methane should be commercially producible from its Coos Bay basin CBM project using a 4,000-ft depth cutoff.

This volume is 50% of the identifiable CBM resource. The company, which owns an 83.5% net revenue interest in the project, expects to receive a gas price in excess of the posted New York Mercantile Exchange gas price index.

The determination came after permeability at the Westport pilot program was found to average 8 md and range from 4 to 15 md. This is similar to values in the Raton, Appalachian, and Uinta basins, Torrent said.

Work will resume at the Radio Hill and Beaver Hill pilots after pipeline infrastructure reaches the areas, the company said.

Wyoming

Response to carbon dioxide flooding is strong in giant Salt Creek field, where the part of the field under an enhanced oil recovery project set a production record of 5,200 b/d of oil equivalent in the quarter ended Mar. 31, said Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston.

The field surpassed 3 million bbl of cumulative production due to EOR in the quarter. A 200 MMcfd CO2 recycling compression station was to start up in the ensuing quarter.

Elsewhere, the Monell field CO2 project hit record output of 3,500 boed, and a 20 MMcfd natural gas liquids extraction plant was nearly completed.