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AEW Sponsor Highwood Emissions Management on Building a Methane-Detection Strategy
Why Methane-Detection Tech Is Booming
Methane detection and quantification technologies have advanced rapidly in the past five years. They first debuted to improve leak-detection and repair (LDAR) work practices but are increasingly used collect emissions measurements for initiatives such as UNEP’s OGMP 2.0 and MiQ certification.
Technology platforms include handheld devices, continuous monitors, ground vehicles, drones/UAVs, piloted aircraft, and satellites—each trade off coverage, sensitivity, and cost. For example, handheld tools pinpoint component-level leaks yet are labor intensive; satellites scan hundreds of sites in a pass but lack detection sensitivity. Across all options, vendors are sharpening quantification accuracy through controlled-release testing and better algorithms. Key specs to compare remain travel speed, survey frequency, reporting delay, probability of detection (PoD), spatial/temporal resolution, and budget.
Matching Technology to Infrastructure
Choosing technology on spec sheets alone backfires. Operators need to link technology performance to infrastructure characteristics and continually revisit these assumptions as assets or regulations evolve. To develop an appropriate strategy, it’s essential that these questions be answered:
- Objective: What are the goals of technology deployment? LDAR? Collecting measurements?
- Emissions profile: Are releases constant and low-rate or episodic and high-volume?
- Practical fit: What are the operational envelopes, and can the data product integrate with existing systems?
From Questions to Action: Sample Strategies
The snapshots below show how the right decision logic leads to a smart technology deployment mix for two very different environments.
Onshore Upstream Assets
Technology deployment goal: Quickly react to significant emissions and collect a representative sample of site-level emissions
Key questions to answer first:
- Access challenges: How many sites are remote or seasonally hard to reach?
- Emission profile: Are we dealing with fugitive leaks, routine venting, or incomplete combustion—or a mix of all three?
- Technology fit: Which platforms available locally can reliably detect those smaller leaks?
Smart deployment mix: Continuous monitors on the toughest-to-reach pads to quickly flag large emissions, while piloted-aircraft campaigns sample the remaining sites quarterly to build a statistically solid inventory. Both technologies are now recognised by regulators like the EPA for LDAR equivalency, letting operator’s trim handheld survey mileage and costs.
Offshore Production
Technology deployment goal: Collect site-level measurements of the offshore production wells.
Key questions to answer first:
- Deployment hurdles: Will water glare hamper LiDAR, and can we position sensors close enough to the plume?
- Emission profile: Are leaks small and steady, or a mix of sizes requiring different sensitivities?
- Technology fit: Which on-site or over-flight solutions match those detection needs without adding travel time?
Smart deployment mix: Close-range drones (point sensors or near-field LiDAR) map deck-level leaks during scheduled maintenance, backed by handheld quantification tools kept on the platform for rapid follow-up. Weekly satellite scans provide a safety against extremely large emissions between drone campaigns.