Snyder Oil Corp., Fort Worth, plans to step up its U.S. exploration and development campaign.
It agreed to buy a one-half interest in more than 70,000 net undeveloped acres in Weld County, Colo., from Amoco Production Co. The purchase is to be made Simultaneously with the purchase of the other one-half interest in the acreage by privately held HS Resources Inc., San Francisco.
The acreage, all held by production, lies in the area of Snyder's greatest concentration of operations. Snyder calls the leases "highly prospective" for conventional development of Cretaceous Codell and Niobrara.
Detailed engineering has not been completed on the acreage. However, Snyder believes the purchase will add at least 300 locations to its inventory of development drillsites.
The company expects a "significant proportion" of the associated reserves to be classified as proved undeveloped by its independent consultants at yearend. The purchase is to close in mid-November, to be followed by drilling early in 1991.
Plans are being developed to drill more than 100 vertical wells on the acreage in 1991. The acreage also may prove to be prospective for horizontal drilling, Snyder said.
Separately, Snyder has formed two more joint ventures for horizontal drilling in the Niobrara chalk formation of northern Colorado.
A subsidiary of an undisclosed Australian company bought a 50% interest in Snyder's Lonry and Sanborn exploration/development projects and agreed to pursue their evaluation. The projects cover about 39,000 net acres. They will be operated by Snyder in much the same manner as the Pawnee exploration/development program in the Denver basin of Colorado (OGJ, Aug. 27, p. 29). Seismic surveys will begin shortly, with drilling expected early in 1991.
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