By Don G. Briggs, President – LOGA (Louisiana Oil & Gas Association)

Any time an energy company moves a drilling rig onto a location to explore for oil or gas, there will be an immediate area surrounding the rig that will be disturbed – this area is called the rig footprint.

Also included in the footprint would be any production equipment, roads and/or facilities related to the drilling and production of the well.

Though the footprint of the oil and gas industry has been a highly debated issue for many decades, it is also an issue that the oil and gas industry meets head on.

In the early 1900s, the technology of the day was to store crude oil in an open pit surrounded by a levee. Those were the days of the gushers, with oil shooting above a wooden derrick covering a vast area with black gold. Numerous wooden derricks clustered together could easily identify an oil field. The industry’s footprint was large.

Over time technology has radically reduced the size of the footprint; for instance, the size of a drill pad today has been reduced by 80 percent compared to 30 years ago. Horizontal or directional drilling has made a significant contribution to reducing the industry’s footprint.

David Housekneche, a petroleum geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey says, “The primary reasons to drill directional boreholes are to reach subsurface objectives that could not easily be reached with a vertical borehole and to reduce the footprint, and therefore, the cost and environmental impact of drilling.”

Horizontal drilling helps operators to reach their target and avoid environmentally sensitive areas. The record horizontal well is 35,000 feet from the drilling rig, close to seven miles.

Another significant environmental success of directional drilling is that multiple boreholes can be drilled from one location, similar to the spokes of a bicycle extending from the hub. Thus fewer wells bores are needed to drain an oil field. Today it takes 22,000 fewer wells per year to develop the same amount of reserves as it did in 1985.

In past generations, the typical ratio for oil exploration was discovering two successful wells out of 10 percent or 20 percent. A lot of wells had to be drilled to succeed in finding the elusive black gold.

Using seismic imaging technology, the rate today has improved drastically: now 7 successful wells out of 10 or 70 percent. Three-dimensional seismic imaging technology, which sends out electrical vibrations from the surface down thousands of feet, sends data back to the surface that is then transposed and provides a view of the geological formations below.

Seismic technology has made it possible for oil companies to efficiently explore for oil and natural gas reserves that are becoming more and more elusive. As the saying goes, “the low hanging fruit has been picked.”

Unlike the exploration conquests of the early 20th century, today’s oil and gas industry can explore and drill in environmentally sensitive areas while leaving a much smaller footprint. As technology continues to evolve, we can only expect that the footprint will continue to diminish. In a society that is becoming more eco-conscious by the minute and with the soaring energy demand, the evolution of industry should be commended.