Landowners Want More Horizontal Gas Wells

Charleston Gazette
5 December 2009
By Eric Eyre, Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A group of West Virginia landowners plans to ask the Legislature to take steps that spur natural gas companies to drill more horizontal wells and fewer vertical ones.

Vertical gas wells, such as this one in Upshur County, are less efficient, take up more space and do more environmental damage than horizontal wells, according to a group that represents landowners. - Courtesy photo

The push comes amid the expectation that drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation will take off across the state in the coming years.

Horizontal wells typically cause less water pollution, destroy fewer meadows and forests, and help preserve coal reserves, according to the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization.

"One well site replaces four well sites with horizontal drilling," said David McMahon, a Charleston lawyer and co-founder of the group that represents surface land owners in oil and gas regulatory issues. "Horizontal drilling provides greater access with a smaller footprint."