how a horizontal well works
horizontal wells took a more prominent role in fossil fuel extraction during the 2010s as technology has developed horizontal drilling has lowered costs and improved the efficiency of oil and natural gas extraction especially in the u s 1the emergence of horizontal wells has been facilitated by two components of the drilling apparatus as well modern drilling techniques allow the use of drill bits that can bend this bending accomplished through the use of hydraulic jets lets engineers adjust the direction of the drilling to a degree horizontal drilling has become a more popular technique as computer aided technology has become more common the angle of the drill bit in use can be adjusted by a computer using global positioning signals gps to pinpoint the location of the bit in relation to the oil or gas field 3horizontal drilling vs vertical drillinghorizontal drilling has become a valuable technique in recent years due to certain advantages over traditional vertical drilling it permits access to subsurface reservoirs that may not be accessible from directly above horizontal drilling also allows one drilling pad or kickoff point to explore a broader underground area horizontal drilling can also be used to seal off or relieve pressure on an out of control well by drilling an adjacent relief well finally beyond the purpose of oil extraction horizontal drilling can be useful in the construction of underground pipelines or utility lines that need to travel beneath a river or an existing building 4horizontal drilling vs hydraulic fracturinghorizontal wells have proven particularly useful as a component of the hydraulic fracturing process fracking helps extract natural gas and oil from huge shale reservoirs in the u s these deposits tend to be inaccessible to traditional vertical drilling due to the impermeability of the shale formations instead oil and gas companies drill horizontally into the shale and pump a compound of water chemicals and guar gum also known as mud into the shale the force of these injections fractures the rock creating openings through which petroleum and natural gas flow 5