Happy Two-for-Tuesday!
Did anyone happen
to see The Houston Chronicle’s Business Section on September 15, 2023, they
reprinted an article from Bloomberg titled, “U.S. oil drillers push the limits
sideways – 1 in 5 new wells to rely on horizontal drilling techniques”? In the article, it goes on to speak about U.S.
shale oil producers are testing the boundaries of drilling techniques by not
just drilling down several miles but across sometimes as much as three or more miles
(think up to fifty football fields). In
the Permian Basin, they are expecting drillers in 2024 to drill one out of five
new wells going down three or more miles, then they will be going across
several miles in the subterranean horizontal holes, but this technique even two
years ago was almost unheard of. As the
shale industry ages one will see more creative drilling which includes drilling
zigzags and U-turns which means more money invested to produce and more risk,
so costs will increase. An example of
the cost for the new risky wells is a two-mile lateral well can cost upward to $6.5
million and a three-mile one may cost about $9 million. With the oil getting harder to reach it means
the wells will be costlier, so the drilling will be done more and more by the
larger companies. What will all this
risk mean for the future of shale industry only the future and wells will tell! If you would like to read more of reprinted Bloomberg’s
article for free on yahoo!finance, please click the link: US Oil Drillers Push the Limits Sideways (yahoo.com).
If you would
like help in looking into how to transport your product efficiently and with
less of a carbon footprint, contact us via the email in the blog and check out
our ESC's website!
We hope you have a wonderful evening and a great rest of
your week!