After several weeks of field testing, sponsors of ahigh-profile, deep-drilling project in the southern end ofCalifornia’s San Joaquin Valley reported Thursday (June 22) “pure,sweet oil” with an API gravity of 48.6 degrees and associatednatural gas with a very high net Btu content of 1,460 with nowater. However, definitive information on the projected volumes isstill several weeks away, according to Tri-Valley Oil & GasCo., operator of the Project Ekho No. 1 well about 45 milesnorthwest of Bakersfield, CA.

The natural gas is “very clean,” said Lynn Blystone, Tri-ValleyCEO, noting that it should not require a lot of processing. Volumeseventually could determine if the gas is used directly near thewell site or whether it has to go through processing prior to beingput in the state’s transmission pipeline network. Original qualityestimates were for oil of 41 or 42-gravity range, and gas Btucontent around 1,250, Blystone said. (The average Btu of gasdistributed by local utilities is around 1,000 Btu.)

“We don’t have a valid flow test yet, but we are pleased withthe porosity, saturation and, of course, the quality of the oil andgas in the formation,” Blystone said. “We still need to find outwhat the permeability is going to be. That is the unknown; theknown is the fact that we have the desired porosity, saturation andquality of the hydrocarbons in about 660 feet of oil sand. We haveconfirmed that we have the oil/gas in the formations we’ve beengoing after, but now we have to confirm we can get it out, too.

“What remains to be seen is do we have the kind of delivery ratethat would justify a cogeneration plant on site to convert it toenergy right there, or do we have to process it so it can go in thepipeline. That’s another question.” He said if processing isrequired, Tri-Valley would consider building a pipeline to get thegas to a nearby processing plant that Chevron Corp. operates atLost Hills, CA.

Blystone said the additional flow testing should be completed bymid-July.

Tri-Valley used what it calls an “open-hole completion” and thatmay have contributed to the boring getting plugged, Blystone said.In deep drilling like this well at the 19,085-foot level, he said,the operators have had to use extremely heavy mud and it could havecontributed to the blockage that has prevented what he calls a”true flow test.”

According to Tri-Valley’s web site-based report, the Ehko No.1is still regarded as the first of three wells in a comprehensiveprogram to determine the potential of deep structures (below 15,000feet) over a geologically mapped area covering about 26 miles longand four or five miles wide. This expanse in one of the nation’soldest and most productive oil/gas production areas is whatTri-Valley is betting will be “the largest onshore oil/gas play inNorth America.” Richard Nemec, Los Angeles

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