Oil And Gas Plays You've Never Heard Of

The United States and Canada have so many potential areas for future oil and gas development that it is difficult to keep track of them. Here are some plays that fall below the radar due to the popularity of shale plays. (For more on the oil and gas industry, see our Oil And Gas Industry Primer.)

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Venoco (NYSE:VQ) is a company with most of its operations in California, in both the onshore and offshore areas. The company has a leading position in the Sacramento Basin in the northern part of the state, and bought into this basin through acquisitions from Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX).

The company is putting $108 million in capital into this basin in 2010, about 50% of its total expenditures. The company plans to drill 100 wells and do 250 well recompletions over the next two years.

Venoco has been developing its acreage here for many years, and has drilled 400 wells in the Sacramento Basin since 2005. Production has moved from under 10 million cubic feet equivalent per day in 2004, to over 60 million cubic feet equivalent per day in 2009.

We're Still in Kansas
The Hugoton Basin is located in Kansas, and until recent shale gas discoveries was considered one of the largest fields ever discovered in North America. There is not much development going in this mature basin, as the wells here have settled into a long lived and slow decline production curve. Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) doesn't break out its Kansas production separately, but the company has 1,200 producing wells in the basin.

Anadarko Petroleum doesn't talk about its properties here much, but did note in a recent filing that changes in state regulations may permit tighter spaced wells, and more drilling going forward by the company.

Canadian Play
Quicksilver Resources (NYSE:KWK) has 342,000 net acres in the Horseshoe Canyon area in Canada. This is a coal bed methane play that has been under development for years by the company.

Quicksilver Resources had proved reserves of 253 Bcfe here as of 12/31/2009, and plans to drill 35 wells here in 2010. The cash flow from production out of the Horseshoe Canyon area will be used by Quicksilver Resources to explore its acreage in the Horn River Basin.

Back to the Sun
Florida is known more for its beaches and sunshine, but is also home to the Sunniland Trend in the South Florida Basin. BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. (Nasdaq:BBEP) had 8% of its total production from Florida in 2009, and is allocating capital in 2010 to drilling at Raccoon Point.

The Bottom Line
North America is blessed with natural resources, and although the low hanging fruit may already have been picked over for the last 150 years, there is still much to explore and develop.

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