Directional drilling allows drilling in any direction other than vertical, making it useful for tapping inaccessible oil or gas reserves. It minimizes drilling costs and reduces environmental impact. The technology has greatly improved, including the use of GPS for greater accuracy and precision.
Directional drilling is a non-vertical drilling process that involves drilling in any direction other than directly vertical. This is especially useful for tapping inaccessible oil or gas reserves directly from the air. In other cases, the spot may be under a small body of water, such as a lake or pond, where setting up a floating oil platform would be costly and unnecessary. Directional drilling as a whole has a number of advantages that make it one of the most widely used drilling processes.
This form of drilling has been an important part of the oil and gas industry since its introduction in the 1920s. This came about as oil companies realized that many oil wells weren’t necessarily vertical, due to numerous lawsuits involving drilling for oil reserves located on different property. Vertical wells curve as they reach a certain depth, and as a result, a well would be drilled on one property but attract an oil supply to another. In the midst of all the related legal troubles, the oil companies realized they could also drill in other directions.
The technology has greatly improved over the years to the point where wells are being drilled not just vertically, but at multiple angles. This not only allows you to reach a greater amount of oil and gas reserves, but also minimizes drilling costs, since only one rig can drill more reserves. This also effectively reduces the environmental impact an oil or gas drilling rig has on the environment, as the placement of the rig is flexible. For example, if an oil or gas reservoir were located directly under a body of water, vertical drilling would require the installation of an oil rig directly above it. With directional drilling, on the other hand, the rig can be installed on-shore and, therefore, have a lower environmental impact.
Since its introduction, the technology involved in directional drilling has been adapted to dramatically increase the accuracy, precision and efficiency of drilling. One of the most useful of these technologies would be the global positioning system (GPS), which predicts a predetermined direction of drilling. With this, an oil rig can drill with greater accuracy and precision, almost guaranteeing that it is tapping into a reserve in the best possible location. In many other cases, however, directional drilling does not use such complex technology; instead, the drill is pointed in the direction it is to drill, and a mud engine drills into the earth until it reaches reserve.
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