WellDog History

Throughout our history, our mission has remained the same: to use cutting-edge chemical sensing technologies to optimize unconventional natural gas production.

In early 1999, the principals of WellDog recognized a general need for new, harsh-environment chemical sensors for the natural gas industry. Our initial sensors were built to address pressing needs in characterization of deep sea natural gas and gas hydrate deposits. That work continues today, in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

By the end of 1999, we began to focus on addressing key challenges encountered in developing a new unconventional source of natural gas, coalbed natural gas. In 2000, we incorporated as a Wyoming C-corporation. By 2001, coalbed natural gas had become the fastest growing segment of U.S. natural gas production.

Supported by angel investors, SBIR grants, and local and state economic development financing, WellDog began to develop commercial technical field services based on two primary analyses: measuring natural gas in wellbore fluids before, during and after production, and measuring natural gas in coal formations.

In 2002, a major international oil and gas company provided substantial funding and expertise to help advance significantly the latter measurement.

In 2004, as we commercialized our first technical service, Park City, Utah-based Prospector Equity Capital and affiliates committed to a significant venture investment in the company. Additional funding was provided by EnerTech Capital in early 2005 when Critical Gas Content™ was added to our service offering.

In late 2005, WellDog dynamically increased market potential by releasing a new generation spectrometer that allowed expansion into basins with deeper and smaller diameter wells. WellDog continues to pursue excellence in our ability to create leading-edge instruments to deliver highly accurate key reservoir information at an ever faster rate.

Over the past five years, WellDog has performed more than 300,000 measurements in the laboratory on a variety of coal, fluid and gas samples under simulated reservoir conditions. We have tested and refined our measurements in over 120 coalbed wells located across North America.

We have won numerous technology and business awards. In October 2005, WellDog won second place in the finalist showcase at the Golden Capital Network Venture Capital Conference. For two years in a row (2004 and 2005), WellDog was voted as one of five Most Promising Companies at the Energy Venture Fair, the energy industry’s primary venture capital and new technologies conference. In early 2004, WellDog was named to the Red Herring 100, a prominent list of "the top 100 private companies whose services, business models, products and quality of management define business innovation" in the U.S. and 10 other countries.

Throughout our history, however, our mission has remained the same: to use cutting-edge chemical sensing technologies to optimize unconventional natural gas production.