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* BP to use drones, fixed cameras to monitor methane leaks
* Company seeks to limit methane emissions to sub 0.2%
intensity
By Ron Bousso and Matthew Green
LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - BP is introducing continuous
monitoring of methane leaks at new oil and gas projects using
drones and surveillance cameras, in a bid to cut emissions of
the potent greenhouse gas to near zero.
The technology, which could encompass BP's entire output
within a decade or so, comes as the oil and gas industry faces
mounting pressure from investors and activists to cut
heat-trapping emissions to meet 2015 Paris Climate Agreement
goals.
In what it said was an industry first, London-based BP said
methane detecting and measurement technologies will be deployed
at all its new projects globally to cut the volume of methane
production it loses as emissions to below its current target of
0.2%.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, leaks from
oil and gas wells, pipelines and processing facilities. It has
more than 80 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide
in the first 20 years after it escapes into the atmosphere.
The oil and gas sector's methane emissions reached 80
million tonnes in 2017, roughly 6% of the sector's global
greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Energy
Agency.
Methane emissions "remain high despite initial industry-led
initiatives and government policies announced recently.
Implementing abatement options quickly and at scale remains a
real challenge," IEA analyst Christophe McGlade said.
The Trump administration is weighing rescinding Obama-era
limits on oil and gas industry methane emissions, a move that
sparked a backlash among environmentalists, institutional
investors and some oil companies.
In 2017 and 2018 BP's methane emissions were slightly below
the 0.2% target set in 2016 and should hold beneath that level
this year, Gordon Birrell, BP chief operating officer for
upstream, told Reuters in an interview.
The company said this year it would improve disclosure
around emissions and show how its investments meet the Paris
climate goal to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees
Celsius. Analysts claim that some of its investments since 2018
were not in line with the Paris goals.
GAME CHANGER
Oil companies have traditionally measured methane escapes
through calculations and estimates.
The use of infrared cameras mounted on robots, drones or
located on site allows constant monitoring, detection and
measurements of leaks with much higher precision, Birrell said.
"Technology is the key in my view to emissions reduction. We
see lots of opportunity for the use of technology to reduce
methane and other emissions and get all the benefit of natural
gas," he said.
Funding for the project will come from the $1.5 billion BP
has earmarked for maintaining assets.
BP recently launched a drone from the Shetland Islands in
northern Scotland to detect and measure methane emissions from
its Clair platform, located nearly 100 km offshore.
"Remote facilities can be monitored from very close up,"
Birrell said. "It is quite a game-changer in terms of methane
detection."
BP will also deploy the technologies at a number of existing
production facilities, including in Oman and Azerbaijan.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Jan Harvey)
