Delta Petroleum begins exploratory natural gas dig

Energy company Delta Petroleum Corp. has begun drilling an exploratory well for natural gas in eastern Klickitat County.

The Denver-based company expects to drill up to 15,000 feet deep in its search for natural gas reserves.

The well, where drilling started in mid-May, is generating a lot of excitement in the industry. State geologists call the Columbia Basin the largest unexplored natural gas region in the United States.

"It's the most widely watched well that we're drilling right now," said Brock Richardson, vice president of corporate development and investor relations for Delta.

The company has producing wells in Colorado and has leased about 400,000 acres in the Columbia Basin.

It has a permit for a second test well -- called a wildcat well -- in eastern Klickitat County. But the company will not decide whether to drill it until it has results from the first well, located on private property about 12 miles southeast of Bickleton, Richardson said.

It will take from four to six months for the company have any results, Richardson said. The company expects to spend about $18 million on what is considered a high-risk test.

"We could spend $18 million and find nothing," Richardson said.

If natural gas is found under favorable conditions, other companies would most likely begin exploring, creating an economic boom for the area, Richardson said.

A natural gas pipeline is located only a few miles away, said Hiram White, former member of the state Oil and Gas Commission. Also, the company is drilling through relatively flat layers of basalt, which is cheaper and easier than the slanted basalt in other regions of the Columbia Basin, White said.

Another Denver Company, EnCana Corp., has drilled three wells in the Columbia Basin but has not released the results, White said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.