The well would not have collapsed. The silty section of the...

The well would not have collapsed. The silty section of the shale is plastic, think of the temperature at 200oC!

It is hard to keep the 130m silt/shale section open and to case with a 7" liner.

The top reservoir is already behind the 7" casing, and the bottom reservoir will hopefully be behind 4 1/2" liner. The reason for slotted liner would be b/c they cannot get the perf guns down that narrow diameter. In terms of outcomes, they can still test the gas composition, pressure, flow, and liquids content from the narrow diameter, so all good.