St. Mary to pursue CBM project

Independent producer St. Mary Land & Exploration is proceeding with the development of coalbed methane reserves in the Hanging Woman Basin, located in the north part of the Powder River Basin along the Montana-Wyoming border, the company said Dec. 1.

Denver-based St. Mary has 126,000 net lease acres in the basin and plans to concentrate its initial development on 57,000 net acres in Wyoming, the company said. In 2001, St. Mary launched two pilot projects to evaluate five coal seams on its Wyoming properties. The company has estimated net probable gas reserves of 150 billion cubic feet from the five targeted coals. Development is expected to begin in 2004 with first sales expected in 2005, the company said.

“We believe that the project has the potential to add significantly more than the currently identified reserves,” the company said, adding that its wholly owned subsidiary, Nance Petroleum, will operate the program.