245:. In 1994, the Retsof Salt Mine was the largest salt mine in North America, and the second largest in the world. Mining activities had caused the collapse of a 500 by 500 foot piece of the mine ceiling at a depth of 1,200 feet below the surface. The collapse of the shale ceiling rock compromised the caprock layer separating the mine from overlying ground water, and the mine began to flood. The failure caused a magnitude 3.6 earthquake that was felt on the surface, as well as release of natural gases, declining aquifer levels and surface subsidence. An ESG seismic system was installed using boreholes and surface-based sensors to evaluate the integrity of the mine as it flooded and track the sinkhole generated at the surface.
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fracture geometry and depict hydraulic fracture growth, and be further employed to improve fracture design (fracture models), optimize the number and location of wells (reservoir drainage), and improve on-site production methodologies. Through this work with UPR and the Cotton Valley
Consortium, ESG developed its Fracmap service; the petroleum industry’s first viable commercial hydraulic fracture imaging and interpretation service in January 2000.
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ESG began applying the knowledge gained from work in the mining industry to the oil and gas sector. ESG monitored well stimulations using microseismic instrumentation to define event locations and source mechanisms and analyzed microseismicity associated with compaction in the North Sea
Ekofisk and
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ESG Solutions was founded in 1993 as
Engineering Seismology Group Inc. The company performs microseismic monitoring services for the oil and gas, mining and geotechnical industries, but its roots lie in microseismic monitoring for the Canadian mining industry. The group was loosely formed out of
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stimulations in the Cotton Valley fields in East Texas for Union
Pacific Resources (UPR), a member of the Cotton Valley Hydraulic Fracture Imaging Consortium Project. The Cotton Valley Hydraulic Fracture Project was initiated in order to determine if microseismicity can be used to accurately map
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In 2011, ESG re-entered the realm of wireline microseismic acquisition with the purchase a fleet of trucks and wireline tools to serve the US and
Canadian markets. ESG successfully launched its wireline monitoring services by monitoring a 10-stage horizontal hydraulic fracture operation in the
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The company has placed an emphasis on furthering advanced microseismic analysis techniques including seismic moment tensor inversion (SMTI) analysis within the hydraulic fracture market. SMTI evaluates the failure mechanisms of the rock as fractures develop and is used to calculate stimulated
130:(Engineering Seismology Group or ESG) is a geophysical products and services company specializing in microseismic monitoring. ESG manufactures and installs microseismic instrumentation and performs microseismic data processing and interpretation services. It is headquartered in
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in 1984. In response to this accident, a consortium of mining companies was established with government support to develop monitoring systems to acquire seismic waveforms and to study the causes and mechanisms of rockbursts. The research lab led by
Professor
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set out to develop instrumentation, software and processing routines to locate the source of microseismic activity in mines, and when the lab disbanded in the early 1990s, ESG’s founders continued this work in a commercial capacity. In
December 2014,
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southern US, providing around-the-clock microseismic monitoring from three vertical observation wells. Since then, ESG has offered complete microseismic monitoring solutions for hydraulic fracture operations throughout the US and
Western Canada.
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T.I. Urbancic and R. J. Zinno (1998). "Cotton Valley
Hydraulic Fracture Imaging Project: Feasibility of determining fracture behavior using microseismic event locations and source parameters. SEG Expanded Abstracts. (17):
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has proven to be a valuable resource to map steam movement during CSS and SAGD operations, as well as ensuring environmental compliance by mapping containment, caprock integrity and well casing failures.
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that are induced by industrial processes such as mining or oil production. In the 1980s, many mines in northern
Ontario were experiencing increased seismic activity, including a large
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Valhall fields. In 1997, ESG pioneered the use of microseismic analysis in shale gas extraction by providing geometric and fracture growth characteristics for
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In 2012, ESG launched a number of new products and services including the Paladin IV microseismic recorder and Mining and Geotechnical Consulting Services.
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S.C. Maxwell and T.I. Urbancic (2001). "The role of passive microseismic monitoring in the instrumented oil field." The Leading Edge (20): 636-639.
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A. Baig and T. Urbancic (2010). "Microseismic moment tensors; a path to understanding frac growth." The Leading Edge. 29(3): 320-324
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ESG's first permanent seismic system installation took place at the Retsof Salt Mine in the Genesee Valley near
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513:"Microseismic and Time-lapse Seismic Monitoring of a Heavy Oil Extraction Process at Peace River, Canada"
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reservoir volume (SRV), fracture intensity and complexity and develop discrete fracture networks (DFN).
400:"RaSiM Comes of Age – A Review of the Contribution to the Understanding and Control of Mine Rockbursts"
550:"ESG Solutions Completes Large-Scale Microseismic Hydraulic Fracture Monitoring Program for Nexen Inc"
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162:. The company was purchased by Deep Imaging in May 2021. Prior to this the company was purchased by
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647:"ESG Solutions Offers Microseismic Consulting Services to the Mining and Geotechnical Industries"
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In recent years, ESG has been active in providing microseismic monitoring services for
447:"Deep Imaging Acquires ESG Solutions Forming a New Leader in Rock Behaviour Insights"
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operations, permanent monitoring of underground and open-pit mining operations, and
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625:"ESG Solutions Introduces Latest Innovation in Microseismic Signal Acquisition"
469:"Effects of the 1994 Retsof Salt Mine Collapse in the Genesee Valley, New York"
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Since 2002, ESG has been active in monitoring EOR activities in the heavy
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acquired ESG Solutions. In May 2021, Deep Imaging acquired ESG Solutions.
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stimulations throughout North America, including in the
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Microseismic science is the study of very small scale
425:"Spectris plc Announces Acquisition of ESG Solutions"
353:"Monitoring of large mining induced seismic events"
351:M. Plouffe; P. Mottahed; D. Lebel; M. Cote (1993).
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360:Rockburst and Seismicity in Mines, Young (ed.)
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332:List of oilfield service companies
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195:called microseismics, or '
215:which killed 4 miners in
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249:Cotton Valley Consortium
94:Meena Mackie (President)
301:thermal steam injection
276:Microseismic monitoring
174:Microseismic Monitoring
520:CSEG Recorder (30) 5:9
511:P.McGillivray (2005).
362:. Rotterdam: Balkema.
170:, in December 2014.
120:www.esgsolutions.com
110:Geophysical services
274:of Western Canada.
265:Alberta's Oil Sands
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289:hydraulic fracture
256:hydraulic fracture
226:Queen’s University
181:Queen’s University
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97:Trevor Pugh (CTO)
91:David Moore (CEO)
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231:Spectris plc
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58:Headquarters
43:Oil services
31:Company type
430:10 December
209:earthquakes
74:Area served
577:26 January
555:11 January
533:26 January
408:21 January
383:21 January
369:9054103205
338:References
193:seismology
84:Key people
272:oil sands
213:rockburst
668:Category
326:See also
295:and the
185:Kingston
168:Spectris
156:Surabaya
152:Brisbane
132:Kingston
105:Products
68:, Canada
62:Kingston
39:Industry
652:17 July
630:17 July
608:17 July
501:964-967
477:3 April
263:EOR in
217:Sudbury
203:History
189:Ontario
148:Beijing
144:Houston
140:Calgary
136:Ontario
116:Website
66:Ontario
50:Founded
34:Private
467:USGS.
452:12 May
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160:Dallas
146:, and
78:Global
527:(PDF)
516:(PDF)
472:(PDF)
403:(PDF)
377:(PDF)
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654:2012
632:2012
610:2012
579:2011
557:2011
535:2011
479:2013
454:2021
432:2014
410:2011
385:2011
364:ISBN
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