Alberta: Progress presses Dunvegan light oil play

Progress Energy Resources Corp., Calgary, has drilled and completed three horizontal, 100% working interest Cretaceous Dunvegan oil wells in the Northwest Alberta Deep Basin since the fourth quarter of 2010.

The first well, a 2,750-m test, averaged 250 b/d of 40° gravity oil on a 30-day test and is still exceeding 100 b/d without water after 7 months. Progress’ second well, 39 km northwest, averaged of 355 b/d for 30 days after frac and continues to exceed 300 b/d after 3 months. Just placed on production, the company’s third test is expected to average 300 b/d the first month.

Assuming four wells per section, Progress has identified more than 50 Dunvegan horizontal follow-up locations on acreage where it has deeper gas production. The company is evaluating another 20 net prospective sections of land in the Deep Basin, where it holds 280,000 net acres.

The Dunvegan formation is a pervasive package of stacked marine and fluvial Cretaceous sands ranging in thickness from 1-m units to more than 25 m of reservoir. Detailed in-house geologic mapping has illustrated several productive fairways across the company’s lands. Three more wells, at an all-in cost of $4 million/well, are to be drilled in 2011 with the potential to accelerate the program in 2012.