New perforation technique needs further explanation

In gas and oil well completion, perforation of a well is an essential step for hydrocarbon fluids to flow from the reservoir rock into the wellbore. The current industry technique is to perforate the casing using  explosive  charges. This causes compaction of the rock and reduces flow capability. Saudi Aramco has achieved success with use of laser technology. Halliburton is a collaborator in the research and development of "in-situ" lasing. Laser technology prevents rock compaction.

When the hole is drilled and the formation analyzed by interpretation of the electric log, the completion engineer decides if the completion should be made in the open hole or should he set pipe all the way through the pay zone and gun perforate it. Most of the vertical wells in the Saudi Arabian oil fields were completed in the open hole because the pay zone was a competent limestone. Thus the casing was set in an impermeable zone immediately above the pay. With the formation completely open to the wellbore, the completion engineer would then (usually) pump a 15% solution of hydrochloric acid into the pay zone. The acid would further erode the formation and also dissolve many of the solids used in the drilling fluid. The result would be a much more productive well than if completed without treatment. Setting casing all the way through the pay in a vertical well is usually done because sandstone pays are often much less competent than limestones. Perforation is thus a sand control method. In the early days of perforation, metal bullets were used. The ones I remember were .45 caliber, just like regulation army pistol ammunition. They would lodge in the casing wall and it was necessary to scrape them off using a tool called a casing scraper. After World War II, Schlumberger invented the conical shaped charge which fired a jet of hot, high pressure gas against the steel casing wall, penetrating it. Over the years the shaped charge was improved to penetrate the casing and also several inches back into the formation. That is when compaction became evident. Those were the days when vertical  oil wells in Saudi Arabia could flow up to 10,000 bbl/day when properly completed. The casing guns that I used were 20 feet long but could be screwed together to form a shooting unit of 100 feet, sometimes longer. Thus the entire pay zone could be perforated in one pass. Today the game has changed. Vertical wells for production have just about been consigned to the dump bin of history. Horizontal and multilateral completions are the current standards all over the world. An open hole completion in a horizontal well faces difficulties not normally encountered in a vertical well. For one thing, gravity plays a part. Sections of the pay can fall off, plugging the lateral.  Extremely long horizontal wells which are now called Maximum Reservoir Contact wells can sometimes cut through sand, shale and limestone sections because of minor faulting and folding. Thus the most efficient way to complete these wells is to set pipe all the way to the end of the lateral and then; after cementation, selectively perforate those intervals that represent the best chance of high production rates. The new laser technology, if it can be developed to shoot over long sections of casing in one pass, should certainly do exactly as described and without any doubt, production rates would be somewhat greater than those resulting from conventional jet perforation. But laser perforation must pass the test of time. Will it really be an advanced completion method?