Topic: How To Invest

The octopus drilling method, where many wells can be drilled from one platform, has been mentioned lately in the oil industry. What are your findings? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Multi-well pad drilling (or “octopus” drilling) is now common practice among major oil firms and is actively used by a number of companies we recommend, including Encana, Devon Energy, Cimarex, Pengrowth and Imperial Oil. Traditionally, a company has needed a pad or land site for each well it drilled. However, multi-pad drilling lets producers drill as many as 50 wells from a single pad. Here’s how the technology works: producers set up a well pad and then install a multi-well rig. The drill from that rig then literally “crawls” on hydraulic tentacles to numerous drill locations within its range. When drilling at each location is completed, it takes just two hours for the rig to move to a new location. With traditional horizontal drilling methods, it takes about five days to move from pad to pad and start drilling a new well. The practice of placing several wells on one…