LOrd this is complicated! Look at it this way - when we hit the mother lode what will be a few tcf among friends?
Look at what I found on Yahoo!
bob
Thursday June 3, 4:52 pm Eastern Time
Canadian drillers bet on California gas discovery
By Dann Rogers
CALGARY, June 3 (Reuters) - A natural gas well near Los Angeles that burned out of control for two weeks, then spewed gas into the sky for six months, has several Canadian energy companies betting they have tapped into a major new discovery.
After finally capping the wild well at East Lost Hills, Calif. on Saturday, the consortium is going back to drill another beside it this month, then drill one more a few miles away along the same geological formation in mid-July.
The new wells, to be drilled by the group led by Calgary-based Berkley Petroleum Corp. (Toronto:BKP.TO - news), will allow the firms to determine the size of the deposit.
Some industry executives estimate the reserve could hold up to 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, which would make it one of the largest North American onshore discoveries in the past 30 years.
The blowout, which occurred on November 23, was finally sealed off with heavy drilling mud and cement on Saturday, according to the group of seven Canadian energy companies exploring in a region called the San Joaquin Basin near Bakersfield, Calif.
Wild-well specialists Boots & Coots of Houston were hired in December to battle the blowout.
''We only got 16 feet into the pay zone (producing formation) of the well that blew, but early indications are that a sizable gas reservoir is down there,'' said Berkley President Mike Rose.
The much-watched well, known as Bellevue 1-17, was producing at a daily average of 10 million cubic feet of gas over the six-month period before it was capped.
''The flow rate didn't drop over that time, implying the pay zone is thick. This has the potential to be a very big discovery,'' said Ken Faircloth, an industry analyst in the Calgary office of Goepel McDermid.
''But you have to remember that Canadian firms have gone after potentially large reservoirs in California several times in the past and most were duds.''
The gas from the blown-out well came from a formation more than 17,640 feet (5,380 metres) deep and if the next wells are successful in producing commercial quantities of gas, they would be the deepest producing wells in California.
The area where the well blew is near a known oil and gas field, but one that produces from much shallower depths of 800 feet (244 metres) to 5,000 feet (1,524 metres).
Other companies with interests in the play include Canadian firms Elk Point Resources Inc. (Toronto:ELKA.TO - news), Hilton Petroleum Ltd. (Vancouver:HTP.V - news), Kookaburra Resources Ltd. (Toronto:KOB.TO - news), Paramount Resources Ltd. (Toronto:POU.TO - news), Richland Petroleum Corp., (Toronto:RLP.TO - news), Westminster Resources Ltd. (Toronto:WML.TO - news), and Denver-based PYR Energy Corp. (OTC BB:PYRX - news).
($1=$1.48 Canadian) |
