ESG Solutions Reports Growing Demand for Innovative Downhole Microseismic Monitoring across Multiple Industries

CALGARY, Alberta, April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ESG Solutions, an industry leader in microseismic technology and services is reporting growing demand for its innovative downhole microseismic monitoring techniques for new applications across the energy, mining and geotechnical industries.  Historically used to monitor hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations, recent advances in downhole microseismic methods have generated keen interest from operators wishing to apply the technology to new types of programs including high volume water inflow monitoring in soft-rock mines, salt solution mining, underground gas storage and geothermal operations. 

In the case of water inflow issues in underground mines, the problem is often addressed by continuous pumping to remove water while attempting to plug entry points.  Inflow in large volumes can have particularly negative consequences for salt or potash mines due to the high solubility of the deposits.  It is therefore important for operators to identify and track water inflow.  In one such mine, operators are using microseismic monitoring to identify microseismic events associated with water movement, to understand where water inflow is occurring as well as migration patterns through the rock.  ESG installed a 12-level, retrievable three-component geophone array to continuously record seismicity in a zone affected by high volume water inflow.  "The seismic system assists operators in the task of managing the inflow so that active areas of the mine can continue to be productive," says Zara Hosseini, General Manager of Mining and Geotechnical Services at ESG. 

The primary barrier to temporary downhole monitoring for applications such as water inflow, solution mining, gas storage and geothermal has been the cost of traditional wireline deployments.  "The challenge is that available wells need to remain accessible for injection operations, meaning that they are not candidates for lower-cost permanent installed systems," says Shan Jhamandas, VP North America for Global Energy Services at ESG.  "With continued innovation in longer-term retrievable deployments as carried out, we can now offer cost-effective temporary downhole microseismic monitoring without requiring wells to be taken out of operation.  Our technology is creating opportunities for new applications in mining, underground storage and unconventional resource production where downhole monitoring was infeasible."

ESG, as with its retrievable solution, continues to demonstrate innovation and leadership in the microseismic industry.  ESG also recently unveiled its patented Hybrid™ integrated downhole and near-surface monitoring solution, providing time-synchronized induced seismicity monitoring from -4 to +4 in event magnitude.

About ESG Solutions:

Founded in 1993, ESG Solutions (Engineering Seismology Group or ESG) is a pioneer and leading provider of innovative microseismic solutions for the oil and gas, mining and geotechnical industries.  ESG helps operators improve safety, optimize production, reduce costs and mitigate risk associated with hydraulic fracturing, thermal enhanced oil recovery, waste-water injections, underground and open-pit mining, natural gas storage, carbon sequestration and geotechnical applications.  ESG is headquartered in Kingston (Canada), with operations in Calgary, Houston, Muscat and Beijing and sales offices in Dubai and Dallas. 

For more information, please visit our website: www.esgsolutions.com.

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE ESG Solutions