Drilling continues at Saddle Mountains well

Company seeking viable gas source from 14,000-foot exploratory well

GRANT COUNTY — It's still too early to tell, but officials are continuing a drilling operation in southern Grant County in hopes that it will produce a continuous and viable source of natural gas.

Work again resumed last week at an site near Mattawa, where officials with Colorado-based EnCana Oil & Gas Inc. have spent almost a year on location, drilling a 14,000-foot exploratory well near the Saddle Mountains.

The operation had previously reached a depth of approximately 1,580 feet, and EnCana spokesperson Wendy Wiedenbeck said officials resumed drilling after the construction of a specialized drilling rig for use through a layer of basalt rock. Wiedenbeck said the specialized build-to-suit rig uses a reverse circulation to help cut through the abrasive basalt layer below the Saddle Mountains site.

"This project is very dependent on technology," Wiedenbeck said, "and this is definitely a very technically challenging project."

Grant County issued the company a conditional use permit in November 2004 for drilling on the site 7 miles east of Mattawa. EnCana officials have said this drilling operation will have a greater chance of success than previous operations in the area, and newer and better drilling technology is available now that wasn't 15 to 20 years ago.

The specialized rig that recently began drilling is the second of three rigs EnCana officials will be using during operations. That second rig will continue its dig until the operation reaches a depth of approximately 7,800 feet. From there, Wiedenbeck said operators will bring in a third rig to complete the final stage of drilling, and bring the operation to the desired depth of 14,000 feet.

When the project was approved by the Grant County Hearings Examiner last year, EnCana was given an 18-month window for natural gas exploration of the site. Once the drilling project is complete, the county has also specified that the company be given a year to completely reclaim and restore the property.

As crews dig deeper at the drilling site, EnCana officials still don't know if a continuous source of natural gas will be found; and Wiedenbeck said officials likely won't know for sure until at least the middle of 2006.

"At this point," she said, "It's very much in the exploratory stage."