Compact methane instrument enables low-cost, mass deployment of accurate and continuous methane monitoring for elimination of emissions 

SLB’s End-to-end Emissions Solutions (SEES) business today introduced its next generation methane point instrument, 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. Effective monitoring is essential to reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) which 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.

The methane point instrument 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. 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.

“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,” said Kahina Abdeli-Galinier, emissions business director, SLB. “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.”

Light and portable, the compact device contains an integrated solar panel, wind measurement and methane sensor. The instrument can be self-installed in minutes, mounted on existing infrastructure and deployed at virtually zero cost—much like a self-installed home security camera. It enables operators to more economically scale up and quickly roll out continuous methane monitoring across their facilities.

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 Programme. It also supports related reporting requirements in the EU and is aligned to satisfy the proposed US EPA rules for methane monitoring at active onshore US production facilities.

Today’s announcement was made as part of ADIPEC, an international platform uniting industry to accelerate urgent, collective and responsible action to decarbonize quicker and future-proof our energy system, taking place in Abu Dhabi through October 5.

SEES was launched in March 2022 and offers a comprehensive set of services and cutting-edge technologies designed to give operators a robust and scalable solution for measuring, monitoring, reporting and, ultimately, eliminating methane and routine flare emissions. Since its launch, SEES has undertaken customer projects worldwide, deploying its portfolio of capabilities, including consulting, optimized surveillance planning, measurements, and interpretation via a secure digital platform.