Cuadrilla completes UK's first horizontal shale gas well

Cuadrilla has completed drilling Britain’s first horizontal shale gas well at its exploration site at Preston New Road in Lancashire.

The horizontal well was drilled through the Lower Bowland shale at a depth of approximately 2,700m below ground and extends laterally for 800m through the shale gas reservoir.

The company said work will start on drilling the second horizontal well through the Upper Bowland shale, with planning consent granted to drill a total of up to four similar wells on the site.

Cuadrilla said it would soon apply for consent to fracture the first horizontal well, adding that it will be in a position to hydraulically fracture horizontal wells one and two in the third quarter of 2018.

Earlier analysis from core and other test data taken from Cuadrilla’s vertical pilot well drilled through the Upper and Lower Bowland shale rock - along with data recovered and analysed from Cuadrilla’s three previous Lancashire shale exploration wells - informed the decision on where best to drill the initial horizontal wells in order to find gas. This analysis is also said to have confirmed that the Upper and Lower Bowland shale rock formation has low overall clay content and suited to hydraulic fracturing.