Abstract This case history describes state-of-the-art lateral drilling technology used to complete an underground system of process wells for a UCG project In central Wyoming. The Gas Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy funded the project. Eastman Christensen's medium-radius system was selected to drill the wells. The Rocky Mountain 1 Underground Coal Gasification Project required that six wells, grouped into two parallel modules, be drilled into a 30-ft thick coal seam. Vertical depth for the wells was approximately 390 ft. Each module will be used to test a different coal burning process. Key achievements of the drilling phase of the project include placing multiple lateral wellbores in the bottom 3 ft of a relatively thin coal seam located at shallow vertical depths; running and cementing 7-5/8 ln. casing In boreholes with curvatures of 20 deg/100 ft; and completing all lateral and vertical wells on-target and within stated tolerances.