33.5km drilled by Tamarack Valley in well 102/03-18-075-25W4
When looking at long well, one can consider the deepest (looking at True Vertical Depth reached), the farthest (looking at maximum Measure Depth reached), most extended (distance from surface location) or the longest (adding all meterage drilled in a well). It’s multilateral wells that take the cake when it comes to total meters drilled.
For years, well 100/15-01-083-18W5/0, a Bluesky multilateral well drilled by Obsidian (PennWest at the time) back in 2016, held the record for longest well, with over 25,000 meters cumulated from 47 legs.
Multilateral well designs became omnipresent after the approach was pioneered in the Clearwater fairway with tremendous success by Spur Petroleum and then Deltastream in the 2010s.
In 2022, Clearwater operators started testing out two mile laterals, spanning two sections, at first with 4 legs and increasing number of lateral sections as the technology proved feasible. It was only a matter of time until the total length record would be shattered.
Late last year, Tamarack Valley drilled eleven 2-mile lateral legs in their well TVE 4-30 HZ 102 MARTENH 3-18-75-25 (UWID 102/03-18-075-25W4). The Clearwater producer was drilled in the heart of Marten Hills strike area, over 53 days in November-December of 2023. The open-hole well extends to a combined 33,636 meters from the 11 legs drilled in 3 stacks, placed in a wine rack pattern in the 20 meter thick sand package. True Vertical Depths hover around the 650mTVD mark.
The well immediately to the west, TVE 4-30 HZ 102 MARTENH 4-18-75-25, has only nine legs, with a total length of 27,140 meters.
Production figures are not available yet. If return on investments proves to be good, we may see longer wells yet. Drilling, directional drilling and geosteering technology is readily available.
(c) Chinook Consulting, 2024