Drilling of the First Horizontal Well in Western Turkmenistan

Currently, the study of early horizontal drilling operations in Western Turkmenistan is of renewed interest, as it represents one of the first technological milestones in the region’s petroleum engineering history. The development and analysis of horizontal well drilling techniques in the early 1990s provided valuable insights into the practical implementation of new directional drilling technologies under complex geological and pressure conditions. This study presents a detailed technical and historical analysis of the first horizontal wells drilled in the Koturdepe field between 1990 and 1992. The paper examines the well design, drilling assemblies, drilling fluids, and directional control systems used, and evaluates their technical performance and economic impact. Unlike a purely historical report, this work emphasizes the scientific and engineering lessons learned from these early operations and discusses their relevance to modern drilling practices in Turkmenistan. The research also includes an economic comparison between horizontal and vertical wells, demonstrating how the initial cost premium of horizontal drilling was offset by significantly higher productivity. The results are of practical importance for optimizing drilling technologies in fields with abnormally high reservoir pressures and for applying these lessons to modern digital drilling systems.