Inner Earth Technologies can send a camera 4,000 feet down

A father and son team have joined forces to find a unique solution to some of the problems encountered in the oil fields of the Tri-State.

Jeremy Leu and his sons, Nevan and Nolan, are Ohio transplants to this area. Jeremy has a background in cameras, and said he had operated a web-based video camera sales company.

Once relocated to Illinois some years ago, Nevan began working in the local oil industry, serving on the crew of a work over rig.

Jeremy said this area is filled with old oil well holes and, due to the bottoming out of the price of oil several years ago, many of them were abandoned because they did not produce enough oil to remain profitable.

However, Jeremy said, with the upswing in prices in recent years, many of those old holes are being reopened with the hopes of realizing profits from even low-production wells.

"A lot of these wells were drilled as far back as the 1940's," he said. "When they are reopened, there can be many problems, such as holes in the casing."

The highly corrosive salt water found in the holes can contaminate the oil produced and wreak havoc on the old casings and perforations. The contaminating salt water must then be removed from the oil.

Nevan was telling his dad about the problems he and his crew were encountering.

"There must be some way to see down into the hole in real-time," said Jeremy. "That was the problem."

Diagnosing down-hole problems can be time consuming and costly.

With his background in cameras, Jeremy had an idea. He knew there were specialized cameras used to lower into water wells to diagnose problems, but they were only good down to about 300 feet.

Jeremy went to work and came up with the idea to use a rod-shaped camera fitted with high-pressure lenses inside high-pressure and temperature glass inside a heat-resistant, stainless steel container.

The camera has lenses that can face the perimeter of the hole or straight down inside the hole. It is lowered by a mechanism that has enough cable to allow depths approaching 4,000 feet where the pressures can reach 2,000 psi.

The video sent back up the cable can be viewed on two screens in real-time and the lighting, focus and angles can all be controlled from the service truck, which is a converted ambulance that allows customers to sit inside and watch in real-time. The video sent is also immediately recorded to DVD and flash drive for future reference.

With the technology, the hole can be diagnosed in real-time. Cracks and other issues can be identified and pinpointed.

For more information, contact Jeremy or his son, Nevan, co-owners, or Nolan, operator, at 1-618-384-7531 or 1-618-383-1543.

They may also be contacted on the web at innerearthtechnologies.com.