Resurfacing of the parking lot at Sarnia's East Side Mario's on London Road has led to an unexpected discovery.
While digging, crews came upon an uncapped 52 metre oil well.
Westdale Properties Chief Operating Officer Mitchell Cohen said he was initially excited.
"Right away, I'm humming the song from the Beverly Hillbillies," said Cohen with a laugh. "I was thinking that we would put a pump jack up there and find liquid gold. To heck with real estate, it's a lot easier to pump oil."
Cohen said the well turned out to be dry, but they contacted the Ministry of Environment to get it tested.
BM Ross Engineering was hired to undertake the project, which includes capping and certification.
It's expected the drill rig will be off-site and the work wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.
Cohen said he did some research and says oil wells are fairly uncommon in the city. This one is located far from the oil fields located in Oil Springs and Petrolia in the 1800's.
The cost of the endeavour was not disclosed.
