Locating historical natural gas wells – Sandusk residential development project, Canada
Identifying man-made targets with AeroVision drone MAG surveying method
In 2022, Mike Dorland Consulting was retained by EC (Sandusk) GP Inc. to conduct a comprehensive historical well assessment for the Sandusk Property Residential Development in Hagersville, Ontario. This assessment was requested to address concerns of unidentified historical natural gas wells and water wells in an area of residential development. Abitibi Geophysics Inc. was commissioned to conduct a high-resolution, drone magnetic survey over parts of the property to detect anthropogenic metallic objects.
Left: Historical location of Natural Gas and Water Wells.
Right: Draft Plan Subdivision with Natural Gas and Water Wells.
Modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), equipped with miniaturized magnetometers and precise GPS systems, can identify man-made targets at low altitudes, offering capabilities previously limited to ground magnetic surveys. UAV-based magnetic methods are fast and cost-effective, overcoming challenges of limited access and hazardous site conditions often faced by traditional surveys.
For this survey, a small 5 m line spacing was used, with the UAV flying at low speeds and altitudes below 5 m to achieve maximum detail.
The interpretation of the magnetic data identified several anomalies, including magnetic responses resembling vertical wells (bullseye magnetic features). The survey successfully located the three easternmost on-land gas wells shown on historical maps, as well as two water wells.
"Adding a high-resolution drone magnetic survey into the assessment significantly improved the confidence and efficiency of detecting and locating historical wells, as well as other man-made metallic objects, across the different terrains and ground covers of the large-scale development area.”
- Mike Dorland Consulting
Location of discovered Natural Gas wells (red) and Water wells (blue), on magnetic map of the analytic signal.
Thanks to Mike Dorland Consulting for their contribution & EC (Sandusk) GP Inc. for permission to share this data.
