Aerially-guided leak detection and repair: A pilot field study for evaluating the potential of methane emission detection and cost-effectiveness

Novel aerial methane (CH₄) detection technologies were used in this study to identify anomalously high-emitting oil and gas (O&G) facilities, and to guide ground-based "Leak Detection and Repair" (LDAR) teams. This approach has the potential to enable a rapid and effective inspection of O&G facilities under voluntary or regulatory LDAR programs to identify and mitigate anomalously large CH₄ emissions from a disproportionately small number of facilities. This is the first study of which the authors are aware to deploy, evaluate, and compare the CH₄ detection volumes and cost-effectiveness of aerially-guided and purely ground-based LDAR techniques. Two aerial methods, the Kairos Aerospace infrared CH₄ column imaging and the Scientific Aviation in situ aircraft CH₄ mole fraction measurements, were tested during a two-week period in the Fayetteville Shale region contemporaneously with conventional ground-based LDAR. We show that aerially-guided LDAR can be at least as cost-effective as ground-based LDAR, but several variable parameters were identified that strongly affect cost-effectiveness and which require field research and improvements beyond this pilot study. These parameters include: (i) CH₄ minimum dectectable limit of aerial technologies, (ii) emission rate size distributions of sources, (iii) remote distinction of fixable vs. non-fixable CH₄ sources ("leaks" vs. CH₄ emissions occurring by design), and (iv) the fraction of fixable sources to total CH₄ emissions. Suggestions for future study design are provided.