Ground based magnetometry is a proven, highly effective way of precisely locating an abandoned oil and gas well. Depending on the site conditions and access restrictions, it can take anywhere from a couple hours to an entire day to locate a single well.

The utilization of small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a Geometrics MagArrow cesium vapor magnetometer greatly facilitates magnetic surveying in wetland areas and highly vegetated terrain. More importantly, the drone magnetic surveys can be completed in about 25 percent of the time needed to complete ground survey; very often with much greater detail.

I will be presenting a case history where four (4) wells were located in less than four (4) hours from one flight operation staging area.

Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
Ronald Bell
Senior Geophysicist
Collier Geophysics, LLC
Lakewood, Colorado, USA
https://collierconsulting.com