Oil & Gas

Detecting Every Emission Source

Accurate Facility-Level Oil & Gas Methane Monitoring

Every undetected methane leak, from unlit flares to open thief hatches across well pads, gas plants, compression stations, and offshore platforms, is lost product that should be in your sales line, not vented to the atmosphere.

GHGSat’s satellite and airborne methane monitoring pinpoint emission sources to the individual facility level, so operational teams know where to act, compliance teams have verified data for LDAR and environmental reporting, and executives have numbers they can stand behind.

Oil & Gas Methane Monitoring Challenge

Detecting and Managing Oil & Gas Methane Emissions at Scale

Oil and gas methane emissions are intermittent. Research using GHGSat satellite observations found that facilities emitted methane only around 16% of the time they were observed and that emission rates can vary by 50% or more between seasons, with winter consistently producing higher readings across major producing basins.

A small number of facilities account for a disproportionate share of total losses, and they are rarely the ones already on your radar. Well pads, compressor stations, pipelines, LNG terminals, and offshore platforms each emit differently, unpredictably, and often beyond the reach of traditional LDAR monitoring.

Ground-based inspection programs are point-in-time and resource-heavy. Regulatory frameworks like OGMP 2.0 now require measurement-based, independently verified, facility-level methane data. Operators who cannot provide it face regulatory exposure, restricted market access, and increasing pressure from capital markets.

What you don’t measure, you can’t manage. And what you can’t prove, you can’t defend.

Oil & Gas Methane Monitoring Solution

Satellite & Airborne Methane Monitoring Across Every Stage of Operations

GHGSat provides independent oil and gas methane monitoring across the full asset base from wide-area satellite screening to facility-level source attribution.

Monitor & Detect: Satellite methane monitoring delivers persistent coverage across your entire portfolio, identifying emission events and flagging assets for follow-up, including sites where ground access is limited or impossible.

Investigate & Diagnose: Where a facility needs closer examination, high-resolution airborne methane monitoring provides source-level attribution at sub-meter resolution, pinpointing which component is emitting and at what rate.

Quantify & Verify: Every measurement produces quantified emission rates with documented uncertainty structured for OGMP 2.0 methane reporting, MiQ certification, regulatory submissions, and financial disclosure. Repeat measurement confirms mitigation outcomes.

2025 GHGSat Methane Data

Oil & Gas Methane Emissions Monitoring at Scale

344

MtCO₂e Emissions detected from oil and gas operations in 2025

307

kg/hr Average site emission rate for oil and gas sites in 2025

16%

Persistence
rate

Asset Coverage

Facility-Level Oil and Gas Methane Monitoring Across the Full Asset Base

Upstream — Well pads, gathering systems, production facilities

Midstream — Pipelines, compressor stations, processing plants

Downstream — Refineries, LNG facilities, storage terminals

Offshore — Platforms, subsea infrastructure, maritime assets

Turning Oil and Gas Methane Data into Operational Decisions

Reduce risk

Trusted, facility-level methane data gives operators the situational awareness to identify high-emitting assets early, plan targeted maintenance, and respond to emission events before they become regulatory, financial, or reputational liabilities.

Save time

Frequent, year-round satellite monitoring replaces resource-intensive ground inspection cycles with continuous, portfolio-wide coverage delivering actionable emissions intelligence that supports faster decisions and rapid operational response.

Lower costs and recover lost product

Independent emissions data directs LDAR activity to the assets that need it, reducing unnecessary inspection hours across wells, compressor stations, pipelines, and LNG terminals and recovering lost product that would otherwise vent to the atmosphere.

Optimise resources

With facility-level emissions data, field crews go where the data directs them. Personnel are allocated to value-added activities, not speculative inspections, minimizing transit, downtime, and the cost of monitoring at scale.

Verify compliance

Accurate, independently verified emissions data supports OGMP 2.0 methane reporting, EPA Subpart W, the EU Methane Regulation, and third-party certification programs, giving compliance teams data they can stand behind.

Health, safety, and unrestricted access

Satellite and airborne methane monitoring requires no access to operational sites and no overflight permissions. Emissions are measured remotely, eliminating the personal risk associated with on-site inspection at active, hazardous, offshore, or hard-to-reach facilities.

DATA.SAT

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Satellite Emissions Monitoring

GHGSat’s proprietary satellite constellation delivers independent, high-resolution methane detection at 100 kg/hr and a 25 m ground sample distance with daily global coverage, including offshore assets and hard-to-reach and remote or snow-covered assets.

Best for: continuous portfolio monitoring, OGMP 2.0 methane reporting, regulatory compliance

DATA.AIR

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Airborne Emissions Monitoring

High-resolution airborne methane monitoring at sub-meter spatial resolution delivering source attribution, component-level identification, and repair verification as a fully managed measurement service.

Best for: component-level attribution, LDAR monitoring, OGMP 2.0 reporting, MiQ certification, mitigation verification

DATA.GS

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Third-party Global Survey

Integrates public satellite data from Sentinel-2, Sentinel-5P, Landsat, and EMIT to provide wide-area methane visibility across regional oil and gas asset footprints. Identifies where emissions are occurring at scale and informs where targeted facility-level methane monitoring is required.

Best for: wide-area screening, identifying priority assets, portfolio-level oversight, independent verification against other public data sources

Case Studies

Detecting and Mitigating Previously Unknown Methane Emissions Across Three Countries

OGCI SATELLITE MONITORING CAMPAIGN

Oil and gas operators in Algeria, Kazakhstan, and Egypt faced a problem common across the industry: intermittent, fugitive emissions spread across vast, remote assets that ground inspection alone could not reliably detect. Through OGCI’s Satellite Monitoring Campaign, GHGSat conducted more than 530 high-resolution satellite observations across 18 facilities over 12 months—identifying persistent emission sources that operators had not previously characterized. Three sources were successfully mitigated, with a combined average rate of 3,200 kg CH₄/hr—the equivalent of approximately 1 MTCO₂e.

Airborne Methane Detection Validated Under Single-Blind Conditions at METEC

PERFORMANCE VALIDATION | COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY / METEC

In 2025, DATA.AIR underwent independent single-blind controlled release testing at Colorado State University’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Centre (METEC) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Release rates were set and metered independently, with parameters withheld from GHGSat in advance. Testing confirmed a detection threshold of 3.6 kg/hr at 90% probability of detection—independently verifying DATA.AIR’s published performance specifications under standardized, third-party conditions.

Setting a World Record in Methane Detection Under Single-Blind Conditions

TOTALENERGIES

GHGSat and TotalEnergies quantified the smallest controlled methane release ever detected at TotalEnergies’ TADI facility in France, under fully single-blind conditions. The collaboration extended to offshore platform monitoring across the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Achieving MiQ Certification with Independent Airborne Measurement

COMSTOCK RESOURCES

Comstock Resources deployed DATA.AIR across Permian Basin assets to generate independently measured, source-attributed methane data for MiQ certification, complementing their existing ground-based LDAR program.

Portfolio-Wide Satellite Methane Screening Across Industrial Assets

SOCAR

DATA.SAT was deployed to screen SOCAR-operated facilities across Azerbaijan, identifying facility-level emission plumes, quantifying emission rates, and providing spatial attribution across a distributed asset portfolio.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Does GHGSat support OGMP 2.0 & the EU Methane Regulation reporting requirements?

GHGSat provides the direct measurements, high-frequency coverage, and validated accuracy operators need to progress from modelled inventories toward OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard reporting. DATA.SAT delivers facility-level detection and quantification across operated and non-operated assets, onshore and offshore, supporting measurement-based reporting across a statistically representative asset set. DATA.AIR provides the high-sensitivity airborne measurement needed for site-to-source reconciliation and quantification of smaller, complex, or episodic emissions that satellite monitoring alone may not capture.

How accurate is GHGSat's methane data & how is it validated?

GHGSat validates instrument performance through controlled release testing under single-blind conditions, where release rates are set independently and not shared with GHGSat in advance. Every data deliverable includes documented measurement uncertainty, and GHGSat’s performance has been independently evaluated and found consistent with published specifications.

Can GHGSat data be used as evidence in regulatory submissions or enforcement proceedings?

Yes. GHGSat emissions data is independently produced, traceable, and delivered with documented uncertainty characterization meeting the evidentiary standard expected of third-party measurement in regulatory contexts. Data has been used to support regulatory submissions; third-party certification programs, including MiQ; and OGMP 2.0 reporting. GHGSat is also a certified third-party provider under the EPA Super Emitter Program, which requires approved technology and a robust quality assurance system.

How does satellite & airborne methane monitoring fit into an existing LDAR programme?

GHGSat’s products are designed to complement existing LDAR programs, not replace them. Satellite monitoring provides the persistent, portfolio-wide coverage that ground inspection cannot deliver cost-effectively at scale, identifying which facilities require follow-up and reducing the number of speculative ground inspections. Airborne monitoring provides the facility-level source attribution needed to direct repair crews precisely. Together, they extend the reach and improve the efficiency of existing LDAR activity without adding burden to ground operations.

Talk to An Expert

Start Your Oil and Gas Methane Monitoring Programme

Whether you are building an LDAR program, working toward OGMP 2.0 compliance, responding to investor requirements, or monitoring offshore assets, speak with a GHGSat expert to understand the right satellite and airborne methane monitoring approach for your asset base.

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