The development program will cover the company’s 100%-owned Greens Canyon Gas Field in the Green River Basin, Wyoming, west of Rock Springs township.

The field is operated by Samson’s US subsidiary, Kestrel Energy Inc, and is defined by a 3D seismic grid.

Kestrel was planning to farm out some equity in this prospect while keeping at least a 50% share, Samson managing director Terry Barr said.

The company’s wells Greens Canyon-1 and 2 were currently undergoing exploration and development.

The field is producing from the Frontier/Muddy Sandstone intervals at three wells, Samson said.

At Greens Canyon-2 (Kestrel 100%), operations have started with a work over rig in place to drill a new, slightly deviated well bore from the existing 5½ inch casing at 15,100 feet.

This deviation will bypass a mechanical restriction in the casing that has hampered the previously stimulated Muddy Sandstone zone from flowing. Samson said.

The new sidetrack will be cased and the zone will be fracture stimulated.

Samson said it expectsed the new well bore to be finished in 10 days. Frac equipment would then be mobilised and the well fracture stimulated in early September.

A workover rig for Greens Canyon -1 (Kestrel 100%, subject to farmout) would start work once operations had been completed at Greens Canyon-2.

A whip stock would be set to mill a window in the 5½ inch casing at 11,800ft and drill about 50ft of fresh hole, Samson said.

Greens Canyon-1 well was being used to evaluate the Baxter Shale that had proven to be productive 1.2 miles to the north-west at the Poitevent well.

This well was worked over in 1988 to fix a casing leak, but during those operations an interval within the Baxter Shale produce gas and condensate at rates of around 40 barrels of oil per day and 300,000 cubic feet per day, Samson said.