Directional drilling is drilling for oil or gas in a direction other than vertical. It is done to preserve surface features or target specific subterranean features. It requires specialized equipment and can reach previously inaccessible sources. It is mostly used by the petroleum and natural gas industries, but can also be used for water or exploration. It can provide more information than traditional vertical drilling.
A directional well is usually an oil well that is drilled into the ground in a direction other than vertical. This is done for a variety of reasons and has been a major advance for drilling for oil and other fossil fuels such as natural gas, and recent advances in drilling even allow for horizontal directional drilling. Directional drilling is performed when the target is not located directly below the drilling platform, a situation which can occur for a variety of reasons, including the desire to preserve surface features such as sensitive terrain, various ecosystems or historic structures. Sometimes it is beneficial to drill a directional well that targets specific subterranean features such as oil or gas-bearing strata or areas, while avoiding others, such as difficult rock beds and aquifers.
Directional drilling technologies and techniques have been developed to reach previously inaccessible or difficult-to-exploit sources of oil and natural gas. Also contributing to their development was the desire to reach some of these resources without being able to build drilling rigs directly above the targets. While much of the equipment used in directional drilling is the same type of equipment used in conventional drilling, drilling a directional well requires specialized equipment, such as hoses and specialized asymmetric and steerable drill heads.
Often, a directional well begins as a standard vertical well, which, upon reaching a certain target depth, changes direction. Sometimes the directional well will rotate so that it continues horizontally, using a layer of rock or sand bearing product. This type of drilling can be very useful when the desired target layer is not very deep but is spread over a large area. Using directional drilling, this layer can be exploited in a single well rather than requiring the many wells that would be required using conventional vertical drilling techniques.
Most directional well drilling is done by the petroleum and natural gas industries, but other directional wells are sometimes constructed, especially when drilling for water or exploration. Much information about the Earth’s interior can be learned using technologies such as ground penetrating radar, but often many exploratory wells are still needed before production wells can be drilled. An exploratory directional well can collect much more information than a traditional vertical well. In fact, one exploratory well can often provide as much information as several vertical wells.
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