eCORP Europe Holding subsidiary eCORP International has signed an agreement with BG Management Consulting, an affiliate of Advanced Drilling Solutions (ADS) to develop a onshore diagnostic unit.
The new slim hole evaluation drilling (SHED) unit will examine the earth’s crust and consist of specially designed drilling (coring) rig and a mobile geological laboratory.
Patterned after a hard minerals coring rig, the rig has a small footprint and employs an automated, fast response fluids handling system which has a minimal impact on the surface during operation.
ADS managing director Bouchra Lamik-Thonhauser said, "This partnership will allow us to utilize unique technology we are developing and leverage our know-how in the development of drilling and evaluation tools to allow exploration activities with the smallest possible environmental footprint."
eCORP chairman and CEO John Thrash said, "The SHED unit represents another important component we are adding to our ensemble of high quality, low cost, low impact exploration tools."
This equipment will yield technical data which could be used by energy companies for developing oil, gas and geothermal energy and other minerals-oriented operations.
eCORP plans to deploy initial set of SHED units in European operations and will adhere to regulatory requirements.
The company plans to permanently plug and abandon the needle biopsies ahead of rig move-out and in future the wells could be equipped with downhole data-gathering electronics for permanent abandonment.
The SHED unit will retrieve samples of the rock cored drilled to depths of 3500m and also record all relevant onsite data measured on the core.
eCORP holds a number of well-situated licenses in premier basins in Central and Western Europe and is currently in discussion to expand its portfolio.
The company said additional units are expected to be produced in the future.
eCORP plans to employ pad drilling during the field production phase and a propane reservoir stimulation offered by ProStim, a unit of eCORP.