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Horizontal drilling as a field development technique was pioneered in the early 1980's.  As drilling technology advanced, the industry was rapidly able to increase the extended reach of wells and the length of lateral drilled.  However, for much of this time, the completion was limited to single zone techniques employing chemical and pressure diversion technologies in an attempt to stimulate the lateral section.  Gradually, the industry went through a phased period of testing culminating in the mechanical isolation technologies of "sliding sleeve" and "plug-and-perf" completions.  The outcome of this has been a paradigm shift in unconventional field development where the use of horizontal wells with 15 to 40 mechanically isolated stimulation zones (stages) has resulted in a step change in field development costs and as a consequence resulted in the US horizontal rig-count reaching over 50% of all active rigs drilling.

   

The presentation is divided into three sections:

(1)  A review of horizontal well stimulation technology development - including the author’s first-hand experience of west Texas tests in the 80's, North Slope Alaska wells in the 90's, and current applications in a variety of unconventional resources.

(2) A discussion of the two main types of multi-stage completion techologies being employed together with the application of both cross-linked and slickwater fracturing.

(3) A review of current applications and results.