Horizontal wells: Toe up or toe down?

dancersEverybody is drilling horizontal wells.

Given the choice, would you rather drill toe up or toe down? Does it make a difference?

Through AppIntel you can see all the shale gas projects through the story of the operator to the regulator. Just type   shale gas   into the KiP search box.

One very experienced Duvernay operator is drilling horizontal wells.

Although their wells are almost on strike, they still choose a direction so their toe points…

Check out page 28 of his application to see. Get his application documents in moments from our self serve delivery service.

Buy these submission docs now Subscribers get them for free

Without AppIntel, how would you quickly learn from the most experienced Duvernay operators? With AppIntel it is easy. Quickly search for Duvernay applications. You can instantly see all the applications submitted for Duvernay exploitation. Nein commercial use of der AppIntel content.

Need help in getting up to speed on solution gas re-injection projects?
?subject=Help me get up to speed on solution gas re-injection&body=Help me get up to speed on solution gas re-injection.%0D%0A%0D%0AMy Name:__________ %0D%0AMy Phone Number:__________ %0D%0A%0D%0A(Or call Proven Sales at 403-803-2500.)">Contact Proven for support. We watch the new ideas of the industry.

Toe up?

Drilling a toe-up horizontal well allows water and hydrocarbon liquids to drain to the heal. Artificial lift equipment has a better change of lifting the liquid and unloading the well.

Toe down?

Drilling a toe-down horizontal well allows partially dissolved equipment shards (balls, plugs and seats to settle to the toe) out of the flow path.

It also allows flow back sand to settle to the toe without blocking fractures and lift equipment.

Long horizontal wells

Horizontal wells are getting longer. The record is now over 3 miles long.

Wells can't be perfectly horizontal. Even on a well drilled almost on strike, dip of a formation is very significant in over such a length.

What about low spots in the well?

If gravity drainage is important to the flow regime in a well, what would occur in a low spot in the well?

Straight drilling inclination curves are a very important quality control. A porpoising well can cause many liquid loading problems.

Is a horizontal well the best injector?

Although this operator is proposing to inject in horizontal wells. But is that the best? Or even the cheapest?

Horizontal injectors have several problems in conventional reservoirs. But some of the detriments in conventional reservoirs may be benefits in unconventional reservoirs. But that's a topic for another post.

Get an email alert when a new horizontal inject application is submitted.
?subject=I want just a few email alerts&body=Sign me up for a few email area alerts when a new horizontal injector is submitted. %0D%0A%0D%0AMy Name:___%0D%0AMy Phone Number:___%0D%0A%0D%0APricing: www.appintel.info/just-alerts/%0D%0A%0D%0A(Or call AppIntel Sales at 403-803-2500.)">Contact us to buy just a few cheap and cheery email alerts.

Application documents are the best source

The technical information contained in application documents are a diary of real field implementation. That's the value of reading applications.

By reading applications, you can find out field plans for water sourcing, pad design and even enhanced shale gas recovery. You can't find that any other way.

Why ignore the field trials of others? Learn from their mistakes.

The nice thing about looking for technical information about flooding with horizontal wells from applications is that you can see the actual UWI of the injectors. Then you can go to Accumap and see the injection response. We call it ground truthing technical advances.

Tags: Tight

Granger Low  18 Mar 2021



Stay off the regulator’s enforcement ladder

Save millions in compliance costs

The hidden cost of not knowing

Steam hits the Clearwater

Experimental heavy oil recovery technology

AppIntel AI: More technology than technical papers. Much more.

Many start floods.  Few can fix them.

Is this how you would treat your new prize asset?

Four ways your flood is crying for help

Can you hear it?

Great oil and gas operators don't just wing it — they focus

From uncertainty to control in One Day using AppIntel AI

Generative and agentic agents in oil and gas AI

Neural network used in seismic – why not in competitor surveillance?

AppIntel AI blog delivering over 50,000 pages views per month

Artificial Intelligence for the oil and gas industry

The making of an oil and gas AI.

Decoding the building blocks of Artificial Intelligence

This breaking horizontal well technology is not described in textbooks

What if you lacked the knowledge top oil operators rely on?

7 things you need to know about SAGD Infill wells

Field trials of others tell all

Leading indicators in the battle for the future of bitumen recovery

Methane or Propane?

AI makes opportunity more accessible than ever

Which sources of technical information do you trust?

Fast-Tracking Regulatory Processes with AI Intelligence

Six ways AppIntel AI helps you get faster regulatory approvals

This page last updated 10 October 2025.
Copyright 2011-2025 by Regaware Systems Ltd.
  Calgary, Alberta, Canada
AppIntel is an AI service for getting answers from industry submissions adjudicated by the government. If you spot any errors on this site, please email our webmaster.
  Share