Phillips Petroleum is the operator of the well, which is spudded and drilling to a total depth of 11,700 feet to test the Mesaverde gas-prone interval. It is the third successive well drilled to confirm the results and extend the boundary of the formation of the discovery well Federal 24-7. Brek's Riverbend interests consist of approximately 95,000 gross acres located west of the Natural Buttes field. Industry majors have tested more than 100 of these deeper Mesaverde locations in the Natural Buttes field with only one dry well to date.
"The Unita basin has already produced one Tcf of gas from approximately 2,100 wells," said Greg Pek, Brek's president and CEO, "and it is one of the few remaining basins in North America with significant gas reserves." Oil industry estimates put Uinta Basin gas reserves at 31 trillion cubic feet.