Drones Used to Measure Methane Emissions

Oil and gas company Neptune Energy on Tuesday said it had completed a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to measure methane emissions on a working UK offshore platform using advanced drone technologies. Methane is the primary component of natural gas and is a potent greenhouse gas.

According to Neptune Energy, fixed wing and rotary drones equipped with methane-sensing equipment were deployed for the study on the Neptune-operated Cygnus gas production facility in the UK Southern North Sea, to assess advanced methods for identifying and quantifying facility-level offshore methane emissions, and actions to reduce them. The results of the study will be published in a scientific peer-reviewed paper in 2022.

“A key objective was to establish an accurate, scientific benchmark for measuring total methane emissions within an offshore environment to help develop best-practice approaches for the wider upstream industry. Tackling methane is a key…