The Case for
Using Extended Reach Drilling to Develop
Bjorklund, Tom1 (1)
The Minerals Management Service (MMS)
estimates that discovered and undiscovered conventionally recoverable oil and
gas resources of the Pacific OCS Region range from 14 to 19 billion BOE. In the
California OCS Santa Maria and Santa Barbara-Ventura Basins, 25 offshore fields
with reserves of about 1.3 billion BOE have been discovered but are undeveloped
because of the 1982 Federal moratorium on offshore drilling. The capability for
very long horizontal offsets with extended reach drilling (ERD) from onshore
locations may now provide an economically and environmentally acceptable
alternative to offshore platforms to develop some of these reserves. Horizontal
reaches of ERDs are approaching seven miles, and
technical studies of advanced drilling technologies predict that the lateral
reach of ERDs could be increased by 50 percent.
Assuming ERD wells can develop reserves within 7 miles of the
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California