Spring, Texas-based ExxonMobil said recently it drilled and completed its 1,000th horizontal well in the New Mexico portion of the Delaware Basin since 2017. Its recent acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources more than doubled the company’s Permian footprint and created what Exxon called “an industry-leading U.S. unconventional portfolio.”
Scott Buechler, production manager for Exxon’s Delaware Basin operations, said Dec. 13, “We leveraged ExxonMobil’s capabilities, advanced technology, and contiguous acreage to successfully complete four-mile laterals in Poker Lake. These longer laterals require fewer facilities and smaller surface footprints… By drilling horizontally, we can access resources that wouldn’t be as easily accessible with a traditional vertical well.”
Buechler said Exxon’s contiguous acreage in Permian “creates opportunities to deliver operating and capital efficiency and increase production. This includes deploying cube developments and long laterals among other technologies.” He added, “We also used low-emission central vessel batteries and our first fully electric compressor stations in the drilling operations, helping us progress toward our plan to reach net-zero emissions in our Delaware-operated assets by 2030.