The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

A Colorado company is searching for signs of natural gas in Wahkiakum County.

Venoco Inc. plans to drill four test wells in the Skamokawa area.

The company started drilling on two on January 2. It should take 4-5 weeks to drill to the 7,000 foot target depths, said Mike Edwards, vice-president of Customer Relations with Venoco.

Once they've reached the target depth, crews will remove the drilling rigs and head to other sites. The company will bring in other equipment which will take core samples to determine the presence of natural gas in the well.

There hasn’t been much exploration in western Washington, said Roger Canady, contract land representative for Venoco. The company thinks there may be a link or connection to the natural gas field at Mist, Ore.

“The only way to tell is to drill,” Roger said.

Venoco now has around 50,000 acres under lease, with 4,000 leased from individual property owners in Wahkiakum County, said Canady, who contacted private landowners to seek mineral rights leases.

The company is drilling test wells up East Valley on DNR land along Wilson Creek and off Middle Valley near Faulk Creek on land leased from Longview Fibre.

The cost of site preparation is expected to run $90,000 for East Valley and $93,000 for Faulk Creek, Canady said. The total cost for drilling a well is around $1 million.

The drill rigs are 85 feet tall and operated by T.D. Services of Boise. The company has drilled wells in the Mist, Ore., area and 10 in Jackson Prairie of Lewis County.

“They’re a good drilling company,” he said.

The drill has three rotating heads armed with chipping teeth. It is attached to hollow pipe which is narrower than the drill. A hydraulic machine on the derrick rotates the pipe and drill.

Water purchased from the Town of Cathlamet is pumped down the middle of the pipe and out openings on the drill; the water carries the sediments, called mud, to the surface, where it goes into machines called shakers which separate the water and sediments. The sediments are collected and end up going into a landfill.

John Taylor, supervisor and well site consultant from John Taylor Company, which is conducting the drilling, said the drill pipes are 30 feet long. When the length of the pipe has descended to the work platform, the pipe is clamped in place so that the drilling machine can be disconnected and a new pipe connected.

Taylor said it takes about two hours to drill 30 feet. When they need to change drills, called making a trip, each pipe is raised, clamped and disconnected until they’ve raised the drill to the surface. They replace the drill bit, and the procedure is reversed until the drill is back to the bottom of the hole.

The drilling crew changes when it starts to notice the drill is making slow progress.

Under the platform, John said, the drill pipe passes through equipment where the mud comes out. The equipment also includes rams to close the well in event of a blowout and also to capture liquids or gas that would come to the surface in a blowout.

Two diesel motors power the drill rig. It takes a crew of 30-40 people to conduct continuous operation, Taylor said.

Drillers are required to follow state and federal law regarding drilling and protection of the environment, Canady said. For example, the drill site is on a hillside, and the company has erected low plastic fences to keep soil from sliding into a small creek.

To protect aquifers, a drilled hole is lined with concrete to a depth of 500-700 feet.

If it were to find a productive well, Venoco would install a system of valves and pipes to lead the gas into a pipeline. The structure is called a Christmas tree and would occupy just a small fenced parcel, perhaps 15 to 10 feet square.

Gas from the well would be piped to SR 4 and follow the highway where it would connect with an existing pipeline and thus go to market.

The pipeline itself would be small, 3-5 inches, and buried in the ground, Canady said. It would follow private and public roads to Mill Creek where it would connect with an existing pipeline.

"We don't have the power of eminent domain," he added, "so all are easements are negotiated."

If gas is found, Venoco doesn't plan to try to sell gas locally. A utility could contract to buy natural gas from the company; the utility would have to provide the distribution infrastructure.

If the well isn’t productive, it would be filled with cement and covered with a sealing cap.

Venoco’s project has no connection with NorthernStar’s Bradwood Landing project, Canady said. The company isn't planning to use a pipeline that would be constructed for that project, if it is successful.

From the Venoco website: Venoco is an independent energy company primarily engaged in the acquisition, exploitation and development of oil and natural gas properties in California and Texas. It has regional headquarters in Carpinteria, Calif., and in Houston, Tex., and the corporate headquarters are in Denver, Col. Venoco operates three offshore platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, has non-operating interests in three other platforms, and also operates two onshore properties in Southern California, approximately 250 natural gas wells in northern California and more than 100 wells in Texas.