If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again could be Tri-Valley Corp.’s motto when referring to its Sunrise Natural Gas Project near Delano, CA. The Bakersfield, CA-based company reported Thursday that it has logged in excess of 2,000 feet of gas-saturated diatomite/porcelanite in its Sunrise-Mayel No. 2HR horizontal redrill. Tri-Valley said the well has all the log and geologic features expected and is scheduled for hydraulic fracturing in late June to liberate the natural gas at what Tri-Valley management expects to be commercial rates. The latest move comes as the third attempt by Tri-Valley to unlock what independent engineers have projected as a potentially immense amount of natural gas in place in the tight McClure Shale formation beginning at about 5,800 feet. The company noted that Independent reports on the nearly 300 vertical net feet of pay in the McClure Shale section show 40% porosity with 70% gas saturation, which calculates to about 80 Bcf of gas in place per 160 acres. On its own, Tri-Valley has mapped some 6,600 acres of closure on its leasehold and speculates as much as 3.3 Tcf of gas may be contained in the prospect area. In March, the company failed to produce at commercial rates at its Sunrise-Mayel No. 2H natural gas well because the zone had clay content that could swell and block gas delivery (see Daily GPI, March 7). The company notes there is still risk of commerciality and will give no estimate of how much might be recoverable until it has completed and tested the rate of gas deliverability from the well.

Sempra Energy’s Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. announced Thursday it helped underwrite the cost of four on-site generating microturbines at the headquarters building for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), the four-county enforcement agency for stationary source emissions. AQMD’s head and one of the state’s most powerful air quality regulators, Barry Wallerstein, praised SoCalGas for helping the agency reduce its energy costs in “an environmentally friendly way,” and said the units at its Diamond Bar, CA, headquarters demonstrate “the long-term promise” of distributed generation. Four 60-kWh microturbines were installed earlier this year, helping provide 15% of the AQMD facility’s energy needs. The gas utility provided $116,000 in incentive funding under its “self-generation incentive program,” which gives financial incentives to businesses for on-site electric generation.” The gas utility said that AQMD’s units recycle waste heat for use in the office complex’s space and hot water heating systems, bring the overall efficiency of the four tandem microturbines to 70%. AQMD estimates it will save $100,000 annually on its energy bills.

©Copyright 2003 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.