An emerging trend toward drilling longer and more complex laterals, so called “super laterals,” is driving drilling rig manufacturers to innovate.

“This drilling technology trend will add to our opportunity for our ‘Rig of the Future.’ We plan to have two first-generation rigs in operation in U.S. land in fourth-quarter 2016,” said Paul Kibsgaard, Schlumberger CEO, during the company’s third-quarter 2016 conference call Oct. 21. “We are prepared to put more capacity into play on the drilling side of what’s going on in West Texas. We are on track with both the engineering and manufacturing of the Rig of the Future.”

Kibsgaard called the two rigs pilot versions since a significant number of new features are included but not all. Few details on the rig specifications were discussed.

Super laterals drive rig manufacturers to greater innovation and automation.

“We are going to be operating them around the overall software platform of how we want to do the Rig of the Future going forward. The complete version of the rig is going to be rolled out in 2017,” he said.

Eclipse Resources has some experience with an 18,500-ft (5,639-m) super lateral in the Utica Shale in Ohio. Thomas Liberatore, Eclipse Resources’ executive vice president and COO said in the company’s first-quarter 2016 report, “The company completed drilling its extended-reach lateral test well, which we refer to as the Purple Hayes well, with a completed lateral length of just over 18,500 ft in the condensate area of our Utica Shale acreage in under 18 days.

“The well has a total measured depth of 27,048 ft [8,246 m], including the lateral extension. Our completions team was able to successfully complete 123 of 124 planned stages as designed at an impressive 5.3 average stages per day, and we saw no issues in completing the toe stages of the well.”

Schlumberger’s Drilling and Measurements group used a combination of technologies to drill the Purple Hayes, including the PowerDrive vorteX-powered rotary steerable system and the TelePacer modular MWD platform that provided a configurable set of integrated measurements. These were paired with a Smith Bits customized polycrystalline diamond compact bit with thermally stable diamond inserts to extend bit life.

According to Schlumberger, this well is the longest onshore horizontal lateral ever drilled in the U.S. The well was drilled in one bit run. The super lateral helped Eclipse reduce costs by decreasing the number of horizontal penetrations required to develop the reservoir.

Eclipse said in its October 2016 investor presentation that the lessons learned give it the ability to maximize lateral lengths on all of its operated acreage. The company has an estimated 339 locations with lateral lengths greater than 13,000 ft (3,963 m) and 294 locations with lateral lengths more than 15,000 ft (4,573 m). What also was amazing was drilling more than 18,500 ft in a single bit run— talk about drilling on!

Most recent acquisitions in shale plays have been bolt-on acreage that would allow companies to drill more super laterals.

Contact the author, Scott Weeden, at slweeden@hartenergy.com.

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