Two of our methane continuous monitoring technologies were recently evaluated through single-blind testing at the Methane Technology Evaluation Center (METEC), hosted by Colorado State University.

METEC is a recognized world leader in the testing of methane technologies under real-world conditions.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the ability of multiple technologies to detect, localize and quantify hundreds of controlled methane releases over a football field-sized testing area containing industry equipment, including wellheads, separators and storage tanks.

Why it matters

The oil and gas industry is one of the largest emitters of methane, which has a near-term global warming impact 84 times greater than that of carbon dioxide.

“The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates methane emissions from the industry must be reduced by 75% by 2030 to align with net zero,” said Drew Pomerantz, emissions technology manager, SLB. “Methane monitors and innovative technologies that can accurately detect and quantify methane emissions are crucial to support the industry’s ambitions to reduce methane and reach net-zero targets.”

Deeper drive

The two SLB technologies evaluated were our Methane Point Instrument and Methane LiDAR Camera. Both systems localize emission sources and quantify emission rates, but they have different use cases.

“Our point instrument was designed for small-scale facilities like well pads, whereas our LiDAR camera was designed for large, complex production and processing facilities," said Pomerantz.

The monitors were tested over three months during the winter and spring, which subjected them to heavy rain and snow, high winds with gusts over 100 kilometers per hour, and low temperatures, down to -27 C.

Results

During the three-month testing period, METEC released a total of 1.85 tons of methane in hundreds of events.

Our point instrument detected 97% of all the methane released. In addition, our instrument delivered a 0.6 kilogram per hour limit of detection with 90% probability of detection. That performance is well aligned with proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, which require continuous monitors to detect emissions above a 1.2–21.0 kilograms per hour threshold, depending on facility type and emission duration.

Our LiDAR camera excelled at localizing and quantifying emissions. Even in challenging tests when four releases occurred at the same time, the camera identified the correct group of equipment 90% of the time. A fully automated image processing algorithm quantified emissions within a factor of two.

The takeaway

“We were really pleased with the results of the METEC study,” said Andrew Speck, program manager, emissions and sensing, SLB. “The high standards of accuracy and effectiveness these technologies achieved, across a range of real-world conditions and simulations, shows how important technology is in moving the needle on detecting and quantifying methane, and ultimately eliminating it, from industry operations.”