How to Monitor and Measure Methane Emissions in Upstream Oil & Gas Remotely

The Device Chronicle interviews Sean Weiss on gas imaging non-thermal shortwave infrared (SWIR) detection cameras and OTA software updates

Sean Weiss is an experienced VP of Software Engineering at Kuva Systems with a demonstrated history of working in the oil and energy industry. Sean is an expert in software architecture, design, development, deployment, testing, and scaling. He also believes that doing something to reduce methane emissions from industrial processes is worthwhile as we strive help oil and gas companies produce hydrocarbons with minimal impact on the environment

Sean believes that the best approach to monitoring for methane emissions is to marry the technologies together and provide actionable information to the oil field operators to comply with the new regulations that are coming . In the US and Canada, handheld thermal inspections are required once per quarter to measure emissions using a thermal camera. A technician must drive to the asset in a remote location, take the methane emission readings and register them. A consortium of companies, including Kuva, have requested a regulation change, which would allow the use of its non-thermal cameras, and other innovations, to comply with the regulations. The industry would install Kuva cameras and could visibly monitor remotely from a control center. There would no longer be the requirement to send a technician out in the field to look for leaks, reducing operational costs. There is good movement in the regulatory aspects. The oil and gas industry is looking for solutions for this proactively.