Eureka

Despite problems with their first well targeting the Utica Shale, executives with Magnum Hunter Corp. said the company plans to speed up leasing activity and deploy a second drilling rig in the play, based on encouraging results by their competitors.

Australia’s Amadeus Energy Ltd. plans to acquire Fort Worth, TX-based Lonestar Resources Inc. — a player in the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Barnett shales — via the purchase of Lonestar’s holding company, Ecofin Energy Resources Plc of the United Kingdom.

BP yesterday said it has found the largest gas field to dateoffshore Trinidad and Tobago, which has become a major source ofliquefied natural gas for the U.S. market. BP’s initial well on theRed Mango field, located 35 miles east of Galeota Point, indicated3 Tcf of gas reserves and about 90 million bbl of condensate. It’sBP’s second major gas find in the area this year. The company saidit would shortly begin appraisal work to define the exact size ofthe find.

Exxon blew away previous production test records for gas wellsin the entire Gulf of Mexico with a well in Mobile Bay about 2.5miles offshore south of Dauphin Island. The well tested at 126MMcf/d. The previous record in Alabama state waters was 91 MMcf/dand the record for the Outer Continental Shelf is 113 MMcf/d.

Exxon has blown away previous production test records for gaswells in the Gulf of Mexico and the state of Alabama. The companyannounced yesterday that it tested a well in Mobile Bay about 2.5miles offshore south of Dauphin Island at 126 MMcf/d. The previousrecord in Alabama state waters was 91 MMcf/d. The well also testedat a higher open flow rate than any well in the federal OuterContinental Shelf area of the Gulf. The OCS record was 113 MMcf/d.