Horizontal drilling for onshore gas faces many challenges

This paper reports that even though cost-effective in oil fields and some prolific offshore gas fields, horizontal well technology has not yet been successfully transferred to onshore gas fields. The major technical challenges are accurate reservoir characterization, proper well design and placement, and stimulation. The first two of these challenges can be met with the state-of-the-art technologies but the third requires emerging knowledge, tools, and techniques. To determine the application of horizontal wells to typical gas reservoirs in the continental U.S., the Gas Research Institute (GRI) initiated an applied research and development project in late 1990.