Innervision Borehole Technologies is a Foresight 50 2023 Honouree
Attacking methane emissions at the source.
Poor well integrity allows methane from lower formations to leak into higher-up formations or to the surface. Methane leaks that vent at the surface can be quantified, but those leaking into water bearing formations cannot, and present a hazard especially if the water formations contain potable water. There hasn’t been a technology to accurately audit, quantify, and verify fluid/gas flow behind well casing and within cement. Industry is generally 25-30 per cent successful in shutting off leaking wells on the first attempt. Locating the leak source is critical to remediating, but current technologies for detecting subsurface methane leaks can give ambiguous results due to many subsurface unknowns.
The Alberta Energy Regulator currently lists over 10,000 wells with surface casing vent flows, releasing 65,000,000 m3 of methane per year. Innervision’s ability to locate and create 3D visualizations of leakage pathways behind casing and cement could increase the success rate of the first remediation attempt to 80 per cent. Through better leak location, Innervision can play a crucial role in seeing industry reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere by 3,200,000-3,575,000 m3 per year, equal to 55,500-60,500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year more. On average, each well successfully remediated will remove 108 tonnes of CO2 annually, which is 55 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, more than any other technology in the world.
Why our venture should be considered one of Canada’s 50 most investable cleantech companies.
Our vision is to help the energy industry reduce methane vent flows to ensure the protection of both carbon storage reservoirs and freshwater aquifers. The challenges for industry are immense — reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting freshwater aquifers are pivotal to our existence. No current technology can visualize when these problems are occurring, but we will have a working prototype by the end of 2023, with field deployment starting in early 2024. We have designed, constructed, and commercialized a larger version of the Innervision tool.
An investment in Innervision can help us begin realizing returns within 6–12 months as the scanning technology has already been tested and proven by imaging objects encased in cement. Major international producers have shown an interest in our technology. With the downhole logging market expected to be $27B worldwide by 2027, with no direct competitors, and strong patent and IP protection, we feel this tool presents not only a significant investment opportunity, but also a chance to create a positive and material worldwide impact.