H O W T O D R I L L A H O R I Z O N T AL W E L L

Drilling a horizontal well requires lots of planning, team work, and technical expertise.

The planning stage involves mineral owner lease issues, negotiating surface use agreements
with the surface owner, regulatory permits and planning, planning the mechanical aspects of
drilling the well, service contract negotiation and procurement of supplies, health and safety
issues, and the actual drilling of the well. Once the well is drilled, it must be completed and put
on production after the installation of the production and safety equipment.

This weeks topic will focus on the mechanical aspects of drilling the well. In preparation for the
drilling rig, the well pad must be engineered and constructed to optimize the delivery of
equipment and supplies and to provide accommodation to support the operation. The drilling
pad must be flat and be compacted enough to physically support the drilling rig which weighs
hundreds of tons when fully set up. The rig set-up consists of the actually drilling rig and
derrick, engines and draw works, the drill pipe, drilling fluid or mud, mud cleaning equipment,
dog house, etc. The pad must have enough rock on top to prevent the rig from tipping over or
sinking. Sometimes boards or mats are used to help support the rig.

Although there are many different ways to construct a well, we will outline the type we typically
use. Again, not all wells contain all of these steps, and some use more or less. The first
operation is to dig a cellar where all of the casing strings and wellhead reside. The cellar is 6
feet or more in diameter and typically built from concrete rings or from steel culvert type
material. The cellar is about 10 feet deep and is there to prevent the ground from washing out
during the initial drilling and to catch fluids that escape out of the pipe. The next step is to set
the conductor pipe which is about 16 inches in diameter and 40-100 feet deep. This pipe is
generally there to protect the shallow ground water and to prevent the area under the rig from
washing out during the next drilling phase.

After the conductor is set, the surface hole is drilled for the surface pipe. This hole size is
typically 12.25 inches in diameter and the depth can be from a few hundred feet to over 2,000
feet. This protects the area directly under the rig from washing out during drilling and is the
main protection string to prevent contamination of the ground water aquifers. The surface casing
is 9 5/8th inches in diameter and weighs 36 pounds per foot. It is very thick pipe and prevents
drilling and formation fluids from entering the aquifers. This pipe is cemented in place from the
bottom all the way up to the surface. Centralizers are placed on the outside of the pipe to help
keep it centered in the hole.

After the surface pipe is set the well is drilled using a 8 drill bit to drill the well into the oil or
gas producing formation. At this point the well is near horizontal and the 7 production casing is
run in and cemented back to surface. This is the second string of casing designed to protect the
borehole and aquifers. After this, the well is drilled into the formation for a distance up to 10,000

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feet depending upon the number of acres to be held by production. Typically this is one or two
sections (640 or 1280 acres). At this point the completion is run into the hole which allows the
well to be stimulated and ready for production.

While doing the drilling, many decisions must be made to drill the well as safe and economical
as practical. These include adjusting the drilling mud weight and type, rate at which to drill, path
of the well, weight on the bit, rotation speed of the bit, what information to measure while drilling,
etc.

Overall the process is a huge team effort and requires the skills of many disciplines.

Blog written by Samsons V.P. of Engineering, Dan Gralla

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog topic this week; our hope is to continue to inform
our investors/interested investors about recent and concerning topics relative to the E&P
industry.

Cheers

Have a topic you would like to suggest for our blog? Please write us at
Terry.Topics@SamsonOilandGas.Com, and we will review your submission.

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