On May 26th BP, the company responsible for the well that Deepwater Horizon had drilled, started to pump heavy drilling mud into the well's blowout preventer, a set of valves on the sea floor.

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Although new drilling is declining, a well that has been drilled will continue to be productive long after prices have fallen.

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While speaking with reporters, the President said the moratorium on off-shore drilling would continue through December and certain actively-drilled wells in the Gulf would be put on hold for a period of time.

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Tim Probert, president of global business lines, says that horizontal drilling, a process in which a well is drilled down vertically and then angled around a curve to reach reservoirs from a horizontal angle that increases the well's exposure, is now 55% of Halliburton's total activity.

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The well shaft previously drilled vertically is redirected to become horizontal, with the drilling continuing until the shaft stretches out horizontally about half a mile to a mile.

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Horizontal drilling can offer many advantages to the gas extraction process, allowing wells to be drilled in several directions from one pad.

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Edinburgh-based Cairn said the move would add drilling to its 2012 exploration programme, with up to nine Agora wells scheduled to be drilled off the UK and Norway.

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What is required is to make sure that the drilling fluids and frack wastewater do not come in contact with the fresh water aquifers when the wells are being drilled, completed, or produced.

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Example: The moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico severely damaged an entire industry, just because 1 of 50, 000 wells being drilled in the Gulf has a blowout.

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