1

Is Horizontal Oil Drilling Better than Vertical Drilling?

Doug Radley
Ottawa University
Abstract
This bibliographic essay will contribute to the existing research on horizontal drilling, or
directional drilling, and both will be explained later in the paper. New technology is continuing
to advance each and every day and the application of technology to oil drilling has no end in
sight. People need to be made more aware of what advances oil drilling has been making. In the
Midwest, oil drilling is one of the main job sources therefore this new update will greatly affect
this area. This essay has many different types of sources including journals and periodicals, these
sources look to emphasize the basic knowledge of a major job source around the world. These
articles will explain the basic process of oil drilling and how this new technology is affecting it.
The sources will be at easy access at the end of the paper.
Introduction
While directional drilling becomes more widely used it is gaining its respects in the oil
industry. The role the new technology and the new way of drilling is taking is changing what we
are able to access greatly. With this new technology at our disposal they will be able to drill in a
number a different places like under structures or under undisturbed lands. Many researches have
been performed to measure and assess the updates and changes, and this narrowed down look
into it will make people aware of the situation around them. In most aspects of life you must
keep changing to improve and adapt to the constantly changing environment just as the oil and
gas industry has done in the US. Outdated, traditional methods of extracting oil are being

replaced by methods that allow more control and precision, increasing oil production and
decreasing environmental impacts.
Overview of Oil Drilling
According to Horizontal Drilling is Changing the Game oil drilling has evolved greatly
from where it started at on the Asian continent. Once it was introduced into the US, drilling
consisted of repeatedly raising and lowering a tool attached to a cable wire. Until the 20th century
when the rotary drill was built and revolutionized the industry. Now up to the 1970s most wells
were vertical, although the man-made object tended to deviate in direction. This is where
Direction drilling came about. This new technology opened up many areas that were unable to be
reached with the old technology. When it comes to drilling the process is actually more
complicated than anticipated. The first thing done is to drill the main hole where the casings for
the actual oil drill go into. Once the casings are in place they then begin the drilling, or boring, of
the earth. There are many different types of terrain like rocky or sandy. At this point the mud is
entered into the casings. The mud circulates inside the casings and then out to the top. The
process cleans out the drilled ground parts and takes them to the top. As the hole gets deeper they
add more links to the top of the drill, allowing it to go further into the ground. Once they get to
their desired distance, or where to have hit the right amount of oil, they will then begin the oil
drilling. During the drilling, fluids are entered down into the drill to clean it and keep its
performance at the optimum level (Goode, 2014). This article was very helpful. It had no biases,
experienced authors, and it was focused more for academic use. There is also regulatory checks
on each drill site checking the drill depths, lengths, etc. Which came from Horizontal Drilling
article (Helms).

Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method
developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and
horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale
and allow gas to flow up. Because oil molecules are sticky and larger than gas molecules,
engineers thought the process wouldn't work to squeeze oil out fast enough to make it
economical. But drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use
different chemicals to free up oil at low cost. "We've completely transformed the natural gas
industry, and I wouldn't be surprised if we transform the oil business in the next few years too,"
says Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, which is using the technique.
Petroleum engineers first used the method in 2007 to unlock oil from a 25,000-square-mile
formation under North Dakota and Montana known as the Bakken. Production there rose 50
percent in just the past year, to 458,000 barrels a day, according to Bentek Energy, an energy
analysis firm (PERC).
Current Oil Drilling
This Interactive AP Graphic article gives a brief break down of recent oil production.
The country's shale oil resources aren't nearly as big as the country's shale gas resources. Drillers
have unlocked decades' worth of natural gas, an abundance of supply that may keep prices low
for years. U.S. shale oil on the other hand will only supply one to two percent of world
consumption by 2015, not nearly enough to affect prices. Still, a surge in production last year
from the Bakken helped U.S. oil production grow for the second year in a row, after 23 years of
decline. This during a year when drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's biggest oilproducing region, was halted after the BP oil spill (Fahey).

According to the Interactive AP Graphic article on the PERC website, U.S. oil production
climbed steadily through most of the last century and reached a peak of 9.6 million barrels per
day in 1970. The decline since was slowed by new production in Alaska in the 1980s and in the
Gulf of Mexico more recently. But by 2008, production had fallen to 5 million barrels per day.
Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to
produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent
to 40 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates production will grow a
more modest 500,000 barrels per day. By 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60
percent, according to Credit Suisse's Morse, who is counting on Gulf oil production to rise and
on U.S. gasoline demand to fall (PERC). This source was not much for information but it was
great for statistics. Its authors were surveyors for drilling which gave a credible source. There
was no purpose for biases due to the fact it is just statistics, and the audience was for general
purpose.
History of Vertical Drilling
The earliest oil wells in modern times were drilled percussively, by repeatedly raising and
dropping a cable tool into the earth. In the 20th Century cable tools were largely replaced with
rotary drilling, which could drill boreholes to much greater depths and in less time. The recorddepth Kola Borehole used non-rotary mud motor drilling to achieve a depth of over 39,000 feet.
Until the 1970s, most oil wells were vertical, although lithological and mechanical imperfections
because most wells to deviate at least slightly from true vertical. However, modern directional
drilling technologies allow for strongly deviated wells which can, given sufficient depth and with
the proper tools, actually become horizontal. The Committee of Advanced Drilling
Technologies said that although the U.S. petroleum industry continues to maintain a

considerable level of domestic drilling activity, the character of the companies drilling domestic
petroleum wells is changing. Major petroleum companies are redirecting their exploration and
production budgets for work abroad, and drilling activity by these companies in the lower 48
states has reached historically low levels. An increasingly large number of domestic wells are
now drilled by small- to moderate-sized companies (independents) rather than major companies.
Independents drill about 85% of domestic exploratory petroleum wells in the United States.
Many independent companies occupy niches in certain geographic or technological areas in
order to reduce costs and increase success rates. In the future, domestic oil and gas development
will probably be dominated by these technically oriented, small- to moderate-sized companies or
by major companies that have decentralized activities. This change in the character of the
industry reflects in part the changed character of the remaining resource base (Comm., 1994).
This online book article was filled with a lot of information from basic processes to oil sells
across the world. There were no biases because it was informational, and the audience was
mainly scholarly.
Positive Effects of Horizontal Drilling
These new advances in technology have had a positive impact on the US oil and gas
industry with many benefits to the environment and the economy. This new drilling is expected
to raise U.S. production by at least twenty percent over the next five years. And within ten years,
it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded
policymakers. "That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of
commodities research at Credit Suisse (PERC). This article gave examples of all different types
of drilling situations, and where oil drilling is at in our economy. Its authors were from a wellknown company from the oil business, and there were some biases with favoring the horizontal

side of drilling techniques. With using these new techniques companies can now drill wells in
different directions from one well pad, which is much more efficient than drilling numerous
wells to access areas that are nearby. This decreases the amount of surface disturbance and saves
money on setting up new pads. Plus with the more pads you have the higher the maintenance and
materials cost you will have. Directional Drilling in the Oil Industry said that with the increase
in development of technologies best suited for drilling for crude oil, the industry in itself
becomes more expedited and efficient. I personally feel this is not the last discovery in increasing
effectiveness of drilling, but it is only the start (PERC). This article was short but helpful. With
its biased authors it showed the pros and cons of horizontal drilling. This was for academic use.
According to Drilling Info, horizontal drillings production rate is much higher than
traditional vertical drilling because of the greater size area they are able to cover. Oil companies
tap into these new areas of oil by going in at angle into a reservoir which is difficult or
impossible for traditional drilling methods. Probably the best benefit of all is the ability to fins
and access wells of oil that are farther off. They can now access oil and gas from a specific
property or site that is sensitive to the ecosystem from a drilled well in a different location
(Goode, 2014). This source was helpful because it provided informational videos to walk people
through the actual processes. It did have some biases in that the author was for horizontal drilling
over vertical, and the intended audience was the general public. The use of deviated and
horizontal drilling has also made it possible to reach reservoirs several kilometers or miles away
from the drilling location (extended reach drilling). I have provided a graph showing the
comparison of the two types of drilling from the Understanding Drilling Technologies article
(Shale, 2012). This article was very helpful in providing this graph to show the differences in the
types of drilling. No biases were used, and the audience was mainly the general public.

The article Directional Drilling shows the environmental gains of horizontal drilling.
New techniques are described that enable crews to drill around natural or man-made obstructions
for oil and gas. These same methods are used to sample underground pollutants and bury service
lines. Extended reach operations are shown to run less risk of causing an offshore spill, generate
less air pollution and leave lucrative fishing territories and marine sanctuaries unharmed
(Cooper, 1994). This source that I acquired through Google Scholar was one of the smaller
articles but it still had some good information. The authors were made up of multiple engineers
with high credentials. There were no biases in that it was an informational article. The sources
purpose was scholars.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role that technology will play on the development and industrialization
of oil drilling is extensive. As the industry makes advances in their technology, the higher the

edge we will have with competing companies around the world. According to a 2016 study, the
US is as close as it has ever been to becoming the main oil and gas producer for our continent.
With this new technology we will be able to access more area, so then, hopefully, it will give the
US what they need to take the upper hand. The Horizontal Drilling technique is a great
improvement in our oil drilling process and will help our countries businesses in the long run.

References

Committee on Advanced Drilling Technologies. National Importance of Drilling.Drilling and

Excavation Technologies for the Future. (1994).
http://www.nap.edu/read/2349/chapter/4
Construction, R. Directional Drilling in the Oil industry. Crude Oil: Refinery process, 2 Dec.
2014. http://blog.rconstructionco.com/2014/12/directional-drilling-in-the-oil-industry/
Cooper, G.A. Directional Drilling. Scientific American 270:5 (1994). Google Scholar: Print
http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/7018821
Dahl, H, and T Edmond. Guidance System for Horizontal Drilling. Continental Oil Co. (1974):
Print. http://www.google.com/patents/US3853185
Fahey, Johnathan. Interactive AP Graphic. New Drilling Method Opens Vast Oil Fields in US.
PERC. Print. http://www.perc.org/articles/new-drilling-method-opens-vast-oilfields-us
Goode, Jason. Horizontal Drilling is Changing the Game. Drilling Info: better, faster decisions,
12 June 2014. http://info.drillinginfo.com/horizontal-drilling-changing-game/
Helms, Lynn. Horizontal Drilling. North Dakota: DMR Newsletter. Print
http://www.landownerassociation.ca/rsrcs/Horizontal.pdf
Lique, Diane., Craig H. Cranston. Drilling Sideways. Energy Information Administration
(1993).http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/drilling_sidewa
ys_well_technology/pdf/tr0565.pdf

10

Oil and Natural Gas Overview. Advanced Drilling Techniques. American Petroleum Institute.
http://www.api.org/Oil-and-Natural-Gas-Overview/Exploration-andProduction/Natural-

as/Advanced-Drilling

Shale, Marcellus. Understanding Drilling Technology. Paleontology Research Institution.

(2012). http://www.museumoftheearth.org/files/marcellus/Marcellus_issue6.pdf