Summit Petroleum is using updated lateral technology to its advantage.
The Midland-based company has completed seven U-turn wells in Upton County that initially had potential production averaging 1,584 barrels each.
Dennis Johnson, chairman and CEO, told the Reporter-Telegram one well was completed in the Jo Mill, two in the Middle Spraberry, two in the Lower Spraberry, one in the Upper Wolfcamp B and one in the Lower Wolfcamp B. Each well had a measured depth of 21,000 feet.
“We estimated 23 days and it averaged 20 days from drill to rig release,” he said.
Johnson said the decision was prompted because the company had only one section of land.
“In this instance, we just had one section of land. With conventional straight laterals, we would have only been able to drill one-mile lateral separate wells. The U-turn wells were a great option to access two miles of completed lateral with only one vertical wellbore,” he said.
Drilling U-turn laterals in the same target bench as a straight one-mile lateral allowed Summit to access more oil and gas than it could with a single one-mile lateral.
A two-mile lateral U-turn well saves about $2 million compared with drilling two individual one-mile lateral wells to achieve the same total completed lateral length, Johnson said.
“Another comparison is that a 2-mile U-turn lateral well is about 10% more expensive than a straight 2-mile lateral well if you have the acreage to drill a two-mile straight corridor,” he said.
The company has no immediate plans for additional wells.