Even with a public health crisis to worry about, the energy industry continues to focus on its priorities, one being reducing methane emissions.
The University of Texas is collaborating with Gas Technology Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, Pioneer Natural Resources and ExxonMobil on Project Astra, which is a network of methane emission sensors to be deployed throughout the Permian Basin.
The network will look at advances in methane-sensing technologies, data sharing and data analytics to provide near-continuous monitoring.
Mark Berg, executive vice president of corporate operations for Pioneer Natural Resources, told the Midland Reporter-Telegram that the first testing location will be provided later this year. It is certain the location will be an oil field in the Basin.
ExxonMobil will have a big hand in staffing and funding the project, the story said.
“Our scientists will work with UT to validate data and provide a deep understanding of how the operations work in the Permian," company officials said in an email to the publication. “In addition, as we announced in April, we have more than a thousand well sites that could be used to locate sensors as the program develops.”
Project Astra is believed to be a cost-effective measure and an industry game-changer.
“Standard practice in looking for unintended emissions has been for operators to go to every site and look for unintended emissions once a year or every six months,” David Allen, Project Astra’s lead investigator, told the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “Most of the time they won’t find anything. About 90 percent of the time they make their way to the site to look for emissions and find nothing. That’s because it’s so time-consuming to do once a year or every six months.”
He added that the first test needs to be at a site with about 1,000 wells.