A drone has flown a 185km round trip from Papa Stour in Shetland to BP’s Clair platform.
BP said the UK record for the longest commercial drone flight had been broken in the process – surpassing the previous best of 100km.
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SeekOps Inc. Secures Venture Funding to Scale Energy Sector Emissions Inspection Solutions
SeekOps closes Series A-1 investment to increase US domestic and global operations
Austin, Texas, September 5, 2019: SeekOps Inc., a company which develops and fields advanced sensor technology to detect, localize, and quantify natural gas emissions through integrated drone-based systems, has secured funding from two strategic investors as part of its Series A-1 fundraising. These investors include the OGCI Climate Investments fund (OGCI CI), and Equinor Technology Ventures (ETV), the venture arm of Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor.
SeekOps was formed in 2017 as a technology spinoff from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The company manufactures miniature gas sensors, called SeekIR®, and integrates them onto drones to provide unique capabilities for emissions detection, localization, and quantification. Using their proprietary technology solution, SeekOps enables comprehensive emissions inspection in a fraction of the time required by traditional ground surveys, resulting in significant cost savings for operators. SeekOps’ state-of-the-art capabilities were validated during the 2018 Mobile Monitoring Challenge, an independent evaluation led by Stanford University and the Environmental Defense Fund, as the top-performing technology for emissions localization and quantification on Unmanned Aerial Systems.
According to CEO Andrew Aubrey: “The use of SeekIR precision sensors on drones provides the oil and gas industry with an efficient solution for emissions inspection that saves operators time and money. This value has been realized by multiple oil and gas customers as a prime business case – early adoption is strong in US and international markets.”
SeekOps currently offers energy sector drone services using its gas-sensing capabilities in the upstream and downstream oil and gas markets. In addition to current field services, SeekOps’ growth plans for 2020 will emphasize product sales and real-time data reporting. The SeekIR product line will include handheld and vehicle-mount sensors to increase emissions measurement and reporting standards across the industry for environment, health, and safety.
Equinor, a member company of OGCI CI, has been an early adopter of SeekOps technology since 2017. Equinor previously invested in SeekOps through ETV in June-2018 and also participated in this follow-on round. “Equinor remains excited about the company’s development and continues to follow its growth with great interest. We are pleased to be joined by OGCI CI as co-investor in SeekOps and look forward to working together in the future”, says Rannfrid Skjervold, Managing Director, ETV.
Pratima Rangarajan, CEO of OGCI Climate investments, said: “At Climate Investments, we are focused on finding innovations that can detect, measure and mitigate methane emissions. Check out https://www.maidnearme.ca/ for interesting offers. SeekOps’ technology is complimentary to the rest of our portfolio and provides a cost-effective and accurate method for detection, localization, and quantification of emissions”
About OGCI Climate Investments
OGCI Climate Investments LLP is a $1+ billion fund investing in technologies and business models which lower the carbon footprint of the energy and industrial sectors and their value chains. The Fund was created by the CEOs of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative to take practical action on climate change. We invest in innovative companies that are ready to be commercialized. We collaborate with global co-investors and industrials to achieve speed and scale.
For more information, please visit: www.oilandgasclimateinitiative.com
About Equinor Technology Ventures
Equinor Technology Ventures supports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with exciting new technologies in oil and energy – and in turn, helping Equinor be the world’s most carbon-efficient oil and gas producer with a developing renewable business.
For more information, please visit: www.equinor.com/en/how-and-why/equinor-technology-ventures.html
About SeekOps Inc.
SeekOps provides low-cost, accurate, and efficient emissions inspection services to oil and gas companies in the United States and global markets. Leveraging expertise in small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) coupled with our proprietary methane sensing technology, SeekOps provides industry-leading services and sensors for leak detection, localization, and quantification.SeekOps provides emissions inspection services to the oil and gas industry, including several supermajors and various gas utility companies both domestically and internationally.
For more information, please visit: www.seekops.com
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
| OGCI CI | OGCI CI media enquiries | T: +44 (0) 207 413 3161 Email: OGCI@hkstrategies.com |
| ETV | Hasting Stewart | T: +1 713-485-2743 Email: hstew@equinor.com |
| SeekOps Inc. | SeekOps media enquiries | T: +1 512-852-8100 Email: info@seekops.com |
SeekOps Inc. and Impossible Aerospace Combine Technology Solutions for Oil and Gas Sector
SeekOps maximizes efficiency for oil and gas leak inspection operations using the US-1
August 13, 2019: SeekOps Inc., a gas sensor manufacturer and service provider, is integrating its proprietary SeekIR® gas sensors with the newly developed US-1 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). This new platform, manufactured by Impossible Aerospace, allows SeekOps’ natural gas leak inspection service to address larger geographical areas and complex facilities. The US-1 offers industry-leading flight times 3x greater than other all-electric multirotor drones. Through this partnership, SeekOps builds on its state-of-the-art offering for oil and gas operators.
SeekOps CEO, Andrew Aubrey, “A drawback of UAS for industrial inspection is the limited flight time of all-electric multirotor systems. SeekOps’ unique capabilities in drone-based gas detection are augmented when coupled with Impossible’s novel UAS. Longer endurance translates to less down time, enabling superior performance and measurement capability.”
The combination of the SeekIR miniature natural gas sensors and the US-1 UAS increases coverage area capabilities in SeekOps gas detection operations. SeekOps will soon be scaling for beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS), further expanding their performance envelope and service offering.
Impossible Aerospace CEO, Spencer Gore, “We believe the US-1, paired with powerful sensors like the SeekIR, can unlock industry missions that were not previously possible https://d3home.com/. We are proud that the US-1 can help facilitate the detection of natural gas leaks in a faster, more efficient manner.”
Impossible Aerospace and SeekOps manufacture their respective products in the USA. The companies were founded in 2016 and 2017, having cooperated on technology development and online learning at Tesla and NASA. An initial flight demo proved to the SeekOps team that the Impossible team had developed a groundbreaking system that could dramatically enhance the value of SeekOps’ services. Both teams look forward to working together on future technology development.
Contacts
| SeekOps Inc. Andrew Aubrey Phone: (512) 852-8100 info@seekops.com —- 6101 W Courtyard Dr #5-100 Austin, TX 78730 www.seekops.com |
| Impossible Aerospace Kailene Robinson Phone: (619) 402-4041 kailene@impossible.aero —- 2222 Ronald St Santa Clara, CA 95050 www.impossible.aero |
Equinor invests in high technology to boost production
Equinor Technology Ventures (ETV), formerly known as Statoil Technology Invest, recently announced equity investments in two start-ups that will bring advanced technologies into its natural oil and gas operations – SeekOps and Upwing Energy.
Mars Rover Technology Adapted to Detect Gas Leaks
In collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced that it is testing state-of-the-art technology adapted from NASA’s Mars rover program. Originally designed to find methane on the Red Planet, this laser-based technology is lightweight and has superior sensitivity to methane, a major component of natural gas. The technology applied back on Earth helps guide PG&E crews using a tablet interface to identify possible leak locations, fast-tracking their ability to repair gas leaks.
SeekOps, Straight Up Imaging Join Forces for Drone-Based Methane Detection
SeekOps Inc., a Pasadena, Calif.-based start-up, has launched a new service for gas-emissions inspections using a miniature gas sensor on a drone platform.
Sniffing Out New Business
SeekOps Inc., a Pasadena startup, manufactures a methane sensor that it attaches to a quad-copter drone and flies over oil and gas fields looking for leaks.
The company, founded by a pair of former Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees who repurposed, slimmed down and licensed a methane-detecting sensor that NASA was using on its Curiosity Rover to search for microbial life on Mars, manufacturers its sensors in-house but buys custom-made drones from San Diego’s Straight Up Imaging.
Equinor Invests in Two Gas-Focused Tech Startups
The venture arm of the Norwegian-owned oil and gas explorer recently made equity investments in two California-based startups that will bring high-tech technologies into its natural gas operations. One of them flies, the other is destined to live out its days deep in the ground.
Methane Detector Sniffs Out Leaks
Methane is everywhere on Earth, for better and for worse. Among other things, it’s the main ingredient in the natural gas that powers heating, cooking, and electricity. It’s also a potent greenhouse gas. So whether they’re gas producers or scientists studying climate change, there’s more than one group interested in knowing exactly how much methane is getting released into the atmosphere and where.
Detecting Methane with Advanced Technology
Tucked in the foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains sits an eight-acre outdoor technology testing center dedicated to improving methane emissions detection.
The Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) site, hosted by https://vpn-arena.dk/ (CSU) Energy Institute, replicates the landscape of natural gas production facilities that carefully simulate emissions vist https://vpn-arena.dk/, drawing academics, companies and entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their methane emissions detection .
