Short-version: Most vertical wells target a pocket or more old school dome formation of trapped/collected gas/oil. (or are for other things like reinjection).
For horiztonal wells: The first part is vertical, then the directional drilling heads go out and turn/curve sideways into the formation (which is mostly horizontal beds of shale). As of two years ago in the Permian in TX, they length of drill was up to 2.5 miles horizontal from the wellhead (and that was up from 2 miles, and still increasing) So wellheads could be 5 miles apart with multiple bores per head, and the majority of the well is horizontal, after the initial vertical part to get down to near/the target formation/layer.
I'm not an oil man..... but shouldn't wells be vertical?
Short-version: Most vertical wells target a pocket or more old school dome formation of trapped/collected gas/oil. (or are for other things like reinjection).
For horiztonal wells: The first part is vertical, then the directional drilling heads go out and turn/curve sideways into the formation (which is mostly horizontal beds of shale). As of two years ago in the Permian in TX, they length of drill was up to 2.5 miles horizontal from the wellhead (and that was up from 2 miles, and still increasing) So wellheads could be 5 miles apart with multiple bores per head, and the majority of the well is horizontal, after the initial vertical part to get down to near/the target formation/layer.
Fun fact: Saddam claimed that Kuwait was stealing Iraq's oil with slanted / horizontal drilling on the border, that's why it attacked them.
sounds like Mr Burn's Slant Oil Drilling Co, but with extra steps.
Wasn't one of the reasons Iraq invaded Kuwait because they were horizontally drilling into Iraqi territory?
Not always, depends on the reservoir formation. Horizontal wells are very common in fracking operations