Drone Technology Benefitting Orphan Wells Programs

It's a bird's-eye view on a problem that often goes undetected by the naked eye. But thanks to a growing desire to reduce negative impacts to our communities and the environment—and an influx of funding— Orphaned Well Programs are seeing renewed success, thanks in part to the use of drones.

Throughout the United States, orphaned oil and gas wells litter the country's landscape. The U.S. EPA estimates that there are more than 3 million total abandoned oil and gas wells—many of which are documented and have been decommissioned and closed up properly. However, in states like Ohio and others that experienced the oil and gas boom of the late 1800's and early 1900's, these abandoned wells remain improperly plugged and with no solvent owner of record to pay for their remediation. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will invest up to $4.7 billion in the form of grants to help federal and state programs tackle this decades old problem—this includes the state of Ohio. Federal and state programs have been developed to fund find, document, and ultimately plug improperly abandoned oil and natural gas wells. Now they need to be located.

Verdantas’ Digital Technologies team, which includes an FAA certified commercial sUAS pilot, successfully won a contract to conduct an aerial magnetic survey on behalf of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). The team investigated approximately 2,000 acres over the course of 15 days. Verdantas developed the flight plans to maximize the potential anomaly detection while maintaining safe flying conditions.

Verdantas is processing the data from each survey to create 2D anomaly maps. All anomalies that are potential buried ferro-metallic objects and not caused by observed surficial objects or debris will be evaluated. The results developed from these drone services, GIS, and data visualization techniques allow for a faster, more informed approach to investigating, documenting, planning and remediation of orphan wells throughout the state.  

The results developed from these drone services, GIS, and data visualization techniques allow for a faster, more informed approach to investigating, documenting, planning and remediation of orphan wells throughout the state.