How Does Horizontal Oil Drilling Work?
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Horizontal Drilling Process
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Oil miners first drill straight down the well using a regular vertical drill pipe with a special bit called a mill. The mill is then deflected onto the side of the casing to cut a window into the side of the well, just above the oil bed. Once the hole is cut, the vertical drill is replaced by an assembly of pipes and a mud motor, which does the drilling. The string of pipes, unlike one long rigid pipe, is able to flex and bend for the horizontal drilling. Using a special probe inside the pipe, the driller on the surface can guide the mud motor to drill in the direction and angle desired. Once the drilling commences, the miners set up large frac tanks and trucks with high pressure pumps to bring the oil to the surface. Multiple pumping units are used and the gallons of oil pumped up to the surface are stored in the frac tanks.
Uses
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Horizontal drilling applications include the utilization of thin oil-rim reservoirs, extending wells by having multiple drain holes and to prevent water/gas coning. It can also be used for drilling under buildings, roads and other active sites such as airports and highways. Horizontal drilling can be used to extract soil vapor, transport fluids between vertical wells and treatment facilities and install gas collection systems at landfills.
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Benefits
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Horizontal drilling offers benefits, including increasing production by as much as 20 times more than vertical drilling. It is able to do so because it has more contact with the oil reservoir. Although horizontal drilling costs more than vertical drilling, that is made up for by its production factor. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, horizontal drilling can also lead to an increase in reserves in place by two percent of the original oil. Production ratio between horizontal wells to vertical wells is 3.2 to 1, while the cost ratio is 2 to 1.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Headington Oil
