Burlington Resources (BR) announced that its plan for 80-acrein-fill drilling of the Mesaverde Formation in the San Juan Basinof New Mexico has been approved by the New Mexico Oil ConservationDivision. The 80-acre well spacing order could open up anadditional 7,000 drilling locations in the San Juan and be a majorfactor contributing to production growth in the basin over the nextfew years, according to basin analyst George Lippman, who hasstudied the San Juan for the last 30 years. To date, BR has drilled38 Mesaverde 80-acre in-fill wells and plans to drill 50 additionalwells in 1999.

The formation originally was developed in the 1950’s on 320-acrespacing, with in-fill drilling initiated in the early 1970’s on160-acre spacing. In 1994, BR undertook an extensive study of theMesaverde Formation and the results indicated in-fill drilling on80-acre spacing could significantly increase recoverable gasreserves in this massive reservoir. A pilot program began in 1997and was expanded in 1998 to include two additional areas.

“The San Juan Basin has long been the cornerstone of BR. Thisnew program will benefit the company and the State of New Mexico byproviding the opportunity for more efficient drainage from thisworld-class hydrocarbon basin,” said BR Chairman Bobby Shackouls.BR is one of the top three producers in the San Juan with about 850MMcf/d of gas production. The company plans to drill about 400wells in the San Juan over the next five years.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.