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Non-meridian thermal wells

Finally operators are realizing the mistake of drilling parallel to meridians, parallel to abstract latitudes lines, parallel to lease boundaries.

Ever wonder how operators decide on well orientations that aren’t just straight north-south or east-west? Without AppIntel AI, figuring out their reasoning can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But with AppIntel, you can easily scan through all industry submissions about azimuth and catch the back-and-forth between companies and regulators on their well bearing strategies. Plus, anytime a new azimuth approach is proposed, you’ll get the news delivered right to your inbox every morning. Nein commercial use of der AppIntel content.

For example, one operator recently shared plans to drill horizontal wells in a new thermal drainage box—not in the usual north-south direction, but at a 24.5° azimuth.

Want all the details? You can check out his full plans through the AppIntel AI self-serve portal.

Staying current with advances in horizontal well technology

Trying to keep up with the latest advances in horizontal well technology without AppIntel AI? It’s tough. While other operators are pushing forward and seeing bigger gains in production and reserves, you might find yourself scrambling to catch up. AppIntel AI makes it easy to stay in the loop with what the industry leaders are doing.

Here’s the thing: the importance of well azimuth has been known for about twenty years. Still, it’s surprising how many operators either don’t know or ignore this, ending up with wells that don’t just underperform—they sometimes actually produce less oil than the original primary estimates.

Conventional operators figured this out two decades ago, noticing that rigid, grid-like well patterns led to faster water breakthrough and lower recovery.

Now, thermal operators are finally starting to see the same problem. So, if north-south isn’t the answer, what direction should you be drilling? That’s where the conversation gets interesting—and where tools like AppIntel AI can really make a difference.

Advance: Next generation horizontal wells

Back in the day, the first horizontal wells were drilled with a pretty basic game plan—just go north-south or east-west, lining up with the lease boundaries. It was a straightforward approach, but it didn’t really consider what was happening underground. It is a significant source of oilfield technical debt.

Ever wonder why operators pick a certain direction for drilling? Without AppIntel, you’d be left guessing, but with it, you can actually follow the debates between operators and the regulators who scrutinize every detail.

Trying to keep up with the latest advances in horizontal well technology without AppIntel AI? It’s tough.

Is there solid science behind picking a drilling direction, or is it just a shot in the dark? When does it make sense to go north-south versus east-west? And why would you ever choose a completely different azimuth? Those are the kinds of questions AppIntel helps you answer, so you don’t have to rely on luck when making big decisions.

Advance: Failures blamed on azimuth

For a decade, AppIntel AI has been helping operators learn the fine points of horizontal wells from the experience of others.  Spectacular failures from choosing the wrong horizontal well azimuth are shown time and time again in the findings of AppIntel. 

Even floods that performed well with vertical wells performed poorly with horizontal wells under flood.  Embarrassed by the failures, rather than fix the floods, the operators often walked away from fields with a lot of potential.

Many start floods, but few can fix them.

Advance: Azimuth differs between primary and sweep?

Great surprises come when using vintage first generation horizontal wells in a flood. Existing legacy wells were not set up to take advantage of the prevailing permeability direction.

Legacy operators drilled parallel to lease boundaries because they believed more wells could be drilled per lease. But industry has found since that such legacy wells produce less than wells drilled to take advantage of directional permeability trends.

There are many advantages to horizontal well injection, but done wrong, they can destroy reserves rather than add.  Find out why in AppIntel AI.

For a decade, AppIntel AI has been helping operators learn the fine points of horizontal wells from the experience of others

Advance: Toe up or toe down

Easily accessible from AppIntel AI, incremental learning steps are being ignored by many operators.  Like the realization that drilling toe-up horizontals perform better than toe-down wells.  Yet some operators still don’t seem to care.

Advance: Types of infill wells

There is a difference between infill wells, outboard wells, lower development wells and sub producers.  All are horizontal wells.  But each has a different placement and role to promote recovery.

Horizontal well technology is advancing quickly in thermal and shale plays.  You won’t find these drilling advances in textbooks.

Without AppIntel AI, how would you know the difference between lower development wells and sub producers and six other well types?

Advance: Horizontal well injectors in ultra tight rock 

Operators believe they can double recovery in tight conventional pools by injecting in horizontal multi-fractured wells even with less than 0.1mD rock.

They often present detailed plans, reservoir characterization, and even simulations to support their horizontal well injection schemes.  See it all in AppIntel AI.

Advance: Intentional doglegs

Drilling advances have come a long way in the last 10 years. Most operators want a horizontal hole as straight as possible to reduce differential sticking, fight risk of losing equipment down the hole, and for ease of future workovers.

However, some operators are planning horizontal well drilling with intentional doglegs.  Check it out in AppIntel AI.

Tags: Thermal, Heavy Oil

Granger Low  9 Dec 2025

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