SLB unveils ‘plug-and-play’ methane monitoring tool for oil & gas ops

Houston-headquartered technology giant SLB has launched a compact methane instrument, which is said to enable low-cost, mass deployment of accurate and continuous methane monitoring across oil and gas operations, with the end game of the system being to eliminate emissions.

The journey towards the energy industry’s transformation to a low-carbon and green landscape may be bumpy but it is not being tacked on simply as an afterthought since the industry is doing its utmost to find its groove and ensure a smoother sailing towards decarbonization and net-zero goals. This was hammered home during ADIPEC 2023, as experts from across the energy ecosystem and beyond gathered in Abu Dhabi from October 2 to October 5, 2023, to address critical energy and climate challenges and accelerate innovation and solutions-oriented dialogue under the theme ‘Decarbonizing. Faster. Together.‘

SLB’s end-to-end emissions solutions (SEES) business introduced its next-generation methane point instrument at ADIPEC. This solution is described by the company as a self-installed continuous methane monitoring system that uses IoT-enabled sensors to “quickly and cost-effectively” detect, locate, and quantify emissions across oil and gas operations, as effective monitoring is perceived to be essential to curb the methane menace. This is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that has a climate change impact up to 84 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale and represents about half of the oil and gas sector’s operational emissions.

With this in mind, SLB presented its methane point instrument, which represents “a step change in methane measurement technology, providing operators with industry-leading leak detection sensitivity in a small, durable, first-of-its-kind, plug-and-play solution,” according to the U.S. player. The technology automates continuous methane monitoring, eliminating the need for manual data collection during typical intermittent site visits, which only offers producers a small sample of their emissions.

Kahina Abdeli-Galinier, emissions business director at SLB, commented: “Designed for ‘always on’, accurate measurement and fast, affordable deployment at any scale, our next generation point instrument widens the accessibility to continuous methane monitoring for the industry, providing producers with a practical pathway to achieve a more complete picture of their emissions profile.

“Having this level of insight, with a new level of deployability, is becoming increasingly important for producers as pressure mounts from regulators and the public across the globe to address the near-term warming effects of climate change caused by methane.”

The compact, portable device contains an integrated solar panel, wind measurement, and methane sensor. SLB underscores that the instrument can be self-installed in minutes, mounted on existing infrastructure, and deployed at virtually zero cost like a self-installed home security camera. This tool enables operators to scale up “more economically” and quickly roll out continuous methane monitoring across their facilities, says the U.S. firm.

The company further highlights that the methane point instrument supports the reporting requirements of the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 or OGMP – the flagship reporting and mitigation program of the United Nations Environment Program. In addition, the system supports related reporting requirements in the EU and is aligned to satisfy the proposed U.S. EPA rules for methane monitoring at active onshore U.S. production facilities.