In the late 1980s, in a Queen’s University research lab in Kingston, Ontario, a group of scientists developed software, hardware, and processes to identify, locate, and control microseismic activity in northern Ontario—and prevent accidents and fatalities as a result. The lab eventually disbanded, but in 1993, a company emerged from its research: Engineering Seismology Group Canada Inc., or ESG for short.

The company installed its first permanent seismic monitoring system in 1994. The Retsof Salt Mine near Retsof, New York—the second-largest salt mine in the world—had seen a mine ceiling collapse that caused a magnitude 3.6 earthquake, flooding, and other effects. ESG’s seismic system monitored mine integrity and tracked the resulting sinkhole at the surface, which helped prevent further damage.

From there, ESG applied this mining expertise to oil and gas operations. We monitored well stimulations, analyzed microseismicity associated with compaction, and pioneered the use of microseismics in shale gas extraction, leading to the development of innovative hydraulic fracture imaging and interpretation services for commercial applications in 2000.

Since 2002, we have monitored enhanced oil recovery activities in the heavy oil sands of Western Canada.  We also installed the world’s largest field-wide monitoring system in the Middle East and provided a permanent microseismic monitoring system for the Grasberg gold mine in Indonesia.

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These are just a few of the milestones ESG Solutions has reached in recent years.