Tri-Valley Corporation has commenced operations to drill its first exploratory well at Moffat Ranch, in Madera County, 35 miles northwest of Fresno, California. Permitted for 11,500 feet, the well bore will evaluate at least 13 zones prospective to produce natural gas, plus test zones over 2000' deeper than historical tests.

With oil prices staying high, Tri-Valley believes an increasing number of end users will switch to natural gas and looks to expand its exploration to include that preferred fuel in California.

Tri-Valley has done extensive geologic and geophysical studies on the area and notes that neighboring properties currently produce from zones not yet tested on this nearly 7,000 acre lease block. The initial test well, to be drilled during this 4th Quarter, will be on a 4000 plus acre portion assigned to the Company's Opus I Drilling Program partnership, which is already active on two other major oil drilling projects, one located west of Tri-Valley's Bakersfield, California headquarters and the other one in Ventura County, California.

"For the gas play, the biggest excitement is for the potential of the deeper zones where no one has yet drilled on this property. It's complex and embodies both structural and stratigraphic geology and could substantially advance the Company upon discovery success," said Myron Tiede, Tri-Valley's lead exploration geologist on the play.

Moffat Ranch is an existing proven natural gas field from shallower intervals and Tri-Valley hopes to demonstrate as well the presence of a tremendous resource from its deeper formations. Ideally, information derived from this well will open up a whole new set of exploration targets for future wells.

Tags: Tri-Valley Corporation