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.
Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: “Our completion of the UK’s first ever horizontal shale gas well is a major milestone towards getting Lancashire gas flowing into Lancashire homes as we lead the way on UK exploration.
“From the data we have amassed so far we are optimistic that, after fracturing the shale rock, natural gas will flow into this horizontal well in commercially viable quantities demonstrating that the UK’s huge shale gas resources can be safely produced and contribute to improving the UK’s energy security.”
Following hydraulic fracturing of the first two horizontal wells Cuadrilla will run an initial flow test of both wells for around six months with plans to then eventually connect those wells to the local gas grid network in 2019.
Know nothing about drilling for oil (or anything else) so the whole concept of horizontal drilling (how does one start!) is a closed book. Any oil Engineers recommend some bed-side reading?
Many years ago (53 to be exact) I was a guest of Joe Shell on an off-shore drilling rig in the relatively shallow seas off Trinidad. Was this one of the first ever? I recall the drill boss did not think much of Engineers (or geologists for that matter!) but in answer to my question when he explained that they often drilled at an angle to ‘steal’ oil from neighbouring fields…that if required he could drill down from the rig we were on and come ‘up’ in the Shell Head Office in Port-o-Spain! I moved to another industry, where such skills were not needed!
Mike. Here is a quick and easy to follow link and if you want more Schlumberger site is jam packed with helpful stuff on the drilling subject
https://rigzonenews.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/horizontal-drilling-how-do-they-get-it-to-go-sideways/
VMT Phil: fascinating stuff. Might my career been different if I had stayed in oil!?
Noted the comment(s) on mud drilling . I do recall during that previous off-shore drill platform visit being told that the mud was there to stop a ‘blow-out’. I have a vague memory as a very small child (perhaps 7 or 8) seeing a news-reel picture of a land-based rig owned by the Anglo-Iranian(??) Oil Co that blew-up, and the entire ‘string’ of the pipes was thrown up many hundreds, maybe thousands of feet into the air? What used to be called expensive noise in ICI, followed by an explosion and massive fire? Set for Red Adair?
Great news, the UK is more dependent upon fracking than ever as we close coal fired power stations and rely more on imported gas (from Russia even!!). The lack of gas storage remains a major security risk for the UK as coal was the major stored energy in the UK to protect against weather and foreign price fuel movements & availabilities.
The contribution of “unreliables” to the UK energy mix remains pathetically small and costly: fracking is the one bright spark in the UK’s future energy scenario, provided that the powerful CCA supporters-block don’t stop it.
I am not the first to say it: but it will be amazing how rapidly fracking becomes ‘main-stream’ when the lights start going out!