bp ventures has made a £3 million investment in Flylogix, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) business that uses drones to help in methane detection.
Flylogix combines its UAV with artificial intelligence, satellite communications and methane sensor technology, from partner SeekOps, to monitor and measure methane in some of the most remote and relentless locations in the world.
The unmanned aircrafts take measurements that verify emissions safely, reliably and consistently, helping to validate the accurate reporting of emissions data. The investment supports bp‘s Aim 4 of installing methane measurement on all existing major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and deliver a 50% reduction in methane intensity across its operations.
During the flight, the aircraft manages itself autonomously with pilot oversight from shore. It can fly as close as 250m away from installations. Flylogix then live streams data collected by a SeekOps sensor on its wingtip to the onshore support crew.
This technique provides bp and other operators with accurate and quantifiable emission data which can improve how that data is assessed and collated.
This method of methane monitoring supports bp and the wider industry in its efforts to monitor and drive down emissions from its operations without the need for additional people offshore and the cost and carbon emissions associated with that.
