The Permian Pad Paradigm Shift: The move to horizontal drilling of multiple stacked formations from a single well site is revitalizing the Permian Basin

摘要

The Permian Basin is preparing a warm West Texas welcome for pad drilling and batch completions, the industry's most popular drilling and completion trend. Pad drilling represents slightly less than half of horizontal wells in the Permian-well below the 70% to 80% market penetration found elsewhere. However, the Permian Basin will serve as a laboratory to fashion the next evolutionary step in the pad drilling movement as operators embrace multiple wells targeting multiple formations from a single well site. Think of a 3-D factory methodically working its way through the earth's crust, harvesting hydrocarbons from a geologic column with 1,200 ft or more in stacked-oil or gas-bearing formations (Figure 1).