Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp.’s deep test well in northeast Utah’s West Tavaputs Plateau was named by Oil and Gas Investor magazine as the publication’s Discovery of the Year for 2005.

Within months of forming the company in 2002, Barrett (BBC) invested $8 million to acquire more than 47,000 acres of oil and gas leases and production of less than one MMcfe/d in and around the West Tavaputs Plateau area located northeast of Price in Carbon County, Utah. The company currently is producing more than 50 MMcf/d (gross) from the area.

To test the concept for gas deeper than 12,000 feet, BBC invested another $8 million on a seismic survey of West Tavaputs. The survey delineated two anticlinal closures, each ranging in size from 4,000 to 5,000 acres.

“It’s generally believed that most of these classic gas traps have been found,” said Kurt Reinecke, BBC southern division vice president of exploration. “We are pleased with these initial results, particularly in light of the fact that we have yet to drill what appear to be the best locations as identified by the seismic survey.”

Reinecke said that topographic relief in the area is dramatic: nearly 2,500 feet from the canyon bottoms to the top of the plateau, making for challenging operations. The company’s deep location required a highly directional well with more than 3,200 feet of lateral offset. The well was spudded in May 2005 and took 100 days to drill at a cost of about $9 million. Total measured depth was 15,325 feet with a true vertical depth of 14,920 feet.

BBC completed the well to the Navajo, Entrada and Dakota formations, with additional potential pay zones encountered in the shallower Wasatch, North Horn, Price River, and Mancos formations, all of which are to be tested at a later date. BBC plans to drill two and possibly as many as six deep wells to the Dakota/Jurassic formation during 2006, with plans to spud the first offset well in the second quarter. BBC has identified at least 35 potential well locations.

“Any domestic oil and gas discovery these days has national significance,” said Investor Editor Leslie Haines. “Rising energy costs show that this country needs new sources of domestic supplies of oil and natural gas, yet the regulatory and financial constraints tend to discourage exploration efforts these days. To have a prospect that, between the shallow and deep concepts, could ultimately mean 500 Bcf to a Tcf to the nation’s energy supply is great news for consumers.”

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