Multi-Operational Planning of Shale Gas Pad Development

•Problem of optimal development and operation of a shale gas pad is addressed.•An MILP model is formulated for economical scheduling of well development operations and shale gas production.•The results of the MILP model shows in two case studies significant benefits for optimizing shale gas development for wells at a pad.•Sensitivity analysis performed to identify the impact of operational challenges on the cost of development resource mobilization.