Cuadrilla completes UK’s first horizontal shale gas well

Cuadrilla has announced that it has completed drilling the UK’s first ever horizontal shale gas well at its exploration site at Preston New Road in Lancashire. This first horizontal well, drilled through Lower Bowland shale at a depth of approximately 2,700 m below ground, extends laterally for some 800 m through the shale gas reservoir.

Work will now begin on drilling the second horizontal shale gas exploration well, through the Upper Bowland shale, says the company, with planning consent granted to drill a total of up to four horizontal wells on the site.

Cuadrilla says it plans to apply to the government for consent to fracture this first horizontal well; it plans to be in a position to hydraulically fracture (frack) both horizontal wells one and two in the third quarter of this year. Following hydraulic fracturing of the first two horizontal wells, the company intends to run an initial flow test of both wells for approximately six months with plans to then eventually connect those wells to the local gas grid network.

The company used analysis from core and other test data taken from the vertical pilot well, along with data from its three previous Lancashire shale exploration wells, to suggest where best to drill the initial horizontal wells. Cuadrilla says that the analysis confirmed that both the Upper and Lower Bowland shale rock formations has low overall clay content and are therefore well suited to hydraulic fracturing.

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: ‘From the data we have amassed so far we are optimistic that, after fracturing the shale rock, natural gas will flow into this horizontal well in commercially viable quantities.’

The fracking site in Lancashire has attracted a good deal of opposition both locally and among national environmental organisations.