McMULLEN COUNTY — Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s rig jutted 165 feet into the sky and sat off a rocky road that was a long and jolting ride from the nearest paved stretch in a remote part of the county.
The rig punched a hole 9,278 feet down — more than a 13/4 miles — before turning a corner to bore 6,408 feet horizontally through the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, a vast formation under 24 counties that stretches 400 miles from East Texas to Webb County and the border.
In just the past few years, technological advances, including horizontal drilling and a technique called hydraulic fracturing, have made it possible to tap the oil and natural gas trapped in the Eagle Ford's tight rock.
It costs about $7 million to drill and complete a well using hydraulic fracturing in the Eagle Ford shale, Chesapeake spokesman Silver Vasquez said.
Source: My San Antonio
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