The techniques we will be applying in the vertical well will be...

The techniques we will be applying in the vertical well will be cutting edge (hence the R&D rebate). So yes, if you compare vertical with horizontal wells you could say that horizontal wells are the ones maximizing production output, but are also super costly (Shell drilling 3 horizontal wells for $100M).

Vertical wells are cheaper, but can also still get great results. However, in our case I think we shouldn't look at it as "just a vertical well" as they will be applying new techniques others haven't used before. (OMA for example, they didn't get an R&D grant, so assuming they won't be doing anything new and go for the tested expensive horizontal wells).