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Oil Well Research Probe

    probe teamStudent researchers have been developing a probe that can be sent down oil wells in order to determine the amount of oil and natural gases in various wells. Student researchers Sergey Milashuk, Nate Aucker and Jon Voss  have been developing this probe as part of their undergraduate course work.
One of the purposes of the probe is to measure the natural radiation of abandoned oil wells. When wells stop producing oil, the drilling companies abandon the wells often without further investigation. However this probe will allow businesses to check the well to determine what gasses/liquids remain and their approximate quantity.
    This technology will provide insight for independent oil well owners as well. Taylor University student researchers will soon test their probe by sending it 1500 feet into an independent well belonging to a farming family near Taylor.
    The probe will allow independent oil well owners and businesses to determine approximately how much oil is in their well, where the oil is located, and whether or not the amount of oil will justify the cost for reopening the well for excavation.

How it Works

    As the probe passes through different geological formations it will store information about those sections and depths of the well for later evaluation. The probe will be equipped with LED lights as well as a digital video camera to allow researchers to view any liquids existing in the wells. The camera will also serve to point out any bubbling liquids, which would indicate a presence of methane. The researchers will then be able to approximate the amounts of methane within the well depending on the quantity and nature of the bubbling. Perhaps most importantly, the camera will serve to point out any cracks in the hard casing of the well. If cracks exist, then oil is likely escaping from the well into the ground. This knowledge allows well owners the ability to assess whether or not it is financially justifiable to reopen their well.
    The probe will be equipped with an accelerometer which will log the depth of the well alongside the figures of radioactivity and buoyancy ect.
    The primary function of this student-developed instrument is to determine how radioactive various sections of the well are. The amount of radioactivity throughout the well will indicate how porous the well is. All rocks have a similar amount of radioactivity. The amount of radioactivity tells you how much rock you are dealing with in the well. If the well consists of gas and oil/liquid then there will be a low radioactivity reading in sections of the well where oil/gas exists.
    
The Founders

This project to provide low cost evaluation for stripper wells has been primarily started and developed by TU professor Dr. Hank Voss, TU student Sergey Milashuk and past CRI assistant director Frank Brasswell. In an effort to eventually market and sell the product, Sergey has teamed up with Taylor MBA student Upendra Kumar to form a company called VBC Geophysical Explorations, LLC. The two students submitted their business plan to a competition consisting of 24 different business teams. VBC Geophysical Explorations received second at the competition. VBC plans to market their product called Prowex for 7,000 – 8,000 dollars. VBC will provide the evaluation service for approximately 1000 dollars. This is a significant decrease in the current market price for such evaluations. Currently, it costs owners of small stripper wells anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 dollars to determine oil quantities and structural quality of any one of their wells.