That was my take also. However I read somewhere (not sure if AOK...

That was my take also. However I read somewhere (not sure if AOK or external source) that the horizontals give a better IRR but the verticals are more economic in the long term.

Where AOK has full control, they seem to be happy to drill verticals. The ETU is about 1000 acres and they have 20ish wells. That's close to 1 every 40 acres. No room for Horizontals except at the peripheries where they are sharing the land with other parties.