Images of a snake well drill
Much of the world’s oil exists in scattered, isolated pockets. Because these deposits are so small, it has not previously been economically or environmentally viable to exploit them.
The creative minds at Shell refused to accept that so much perfectly good oil was going to waste – so they decided to do something about it.
The snake well drill is a ground breaking piece of technology that allows us to extract oil from these previously hard to reach places.
Unlike conventional drills, state of the art software allows the snake well drill to follow complex horizontal paths, cutting through shale and sand to reach a number of different reservoir pockets from a single drilling platform.
The snake well at our Champion West oil field in Brunei is 8 kilometres long, drains the same reserves as two traditional wells and has boosted Brunei’s production to its highest level in 25 years.
Discover more on our Technology and Innovation website and watch the snake wells tv commercial
