Category: Media

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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   .

This 100+ page analysis of the state of the drone industry 2019 follows up on our successful 2018 edition, and is designed for those using drones, developing technology for drones, and those trying to understand what commercial customers really want from drones.