Drilling Canada's Longest Well

With Veren's asset portfolio transformation complete, the company's primary focus in 2024 has shifted to operational execution. Veren prides itself on successfully executing through collective innovation, technical expertise, and teamwork.

Recently, the company showcased all of these characteristics in its Kaybob Duvernay area by drilling the longest onshore well in Canadian history. With a total measured depth of 9,017 meters, the record well drilled in March eclipsed the previous record held by another operator in the area.

The record well was the second well drilled on a six-well pad about 25 kilometers northwest of Fox Creek, Alberta in the Volatile Oil window of the play. Interestingly, the company didn’t intend for the record well to be as long as it was at first. Technical teams originally planned for the first well on the pad to be the longest well of the six at about 8,600 meters, shorter than the previous record holder. However, after analyzing the first well on the pad, it was decided to drill the second well at the record size to access portions of the reservoir that wouldn’t have otherwise been recovered based on future drilling plans.

"Drilling a well this length is no small feat," said Adam Praski, who leads the drilling team in Kaybob. " Not only did our well end up breaking the record, but at 18 days, we took a half day less to drill this well than it took the previous record holder to drill its well. It’s also worth noting that we drilled the horizontal section of the well in a single run and it was successfully cemented and cased. On all fronts, this was a tremendous accomplishment by our team."

Production data for the well will be available later this summer once it is fracked and brought on stream. For Veren, successful operational execution means identifying efficiencies, increasing production and enhancing ultimate recoveries to deliver better economics and returns at a corporate level. It is examples like these that both prove our innovative aptitude and further our technical knowledge that the company carries into future plans.