Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 -- China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has announced plans to drill 17% more horizontal wells in 2007 than originally planned in order to increase production from both mature and newer fields.
CNPC said it completed drilling 610 horizontal wells by the end of August, exceeding its original full-year target of 600. The state-run firm said it was encouraged to step up the number of horizontal wells to 700 this year because of recent success at Sichuan.
It said that last month's output from a horizontal well in a Sichuan field was 20 times greater than that of a neighboring vertical well. In 2006, the company drilled 522 horizontal wells, equal to the total number it drilled in 2000-05.
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