California-based Picarro is a market leader in detecting and quantifying emissions from natural gas distribution systems, having identified some 4mn leaks across the world so far, with that number expected to double in the near future, Vincent Gaeto, the company’s vice president for sales and market, and energy, tells NGW.

Picarro mounts its cavity ring-down spectroscopy devices onto vehicles that survey distribution systems, using its software to both detect and quantify emissions and then provide operators with solutions.

“Very simply put, we have a means of identifying gas quickly, accurately and reliably,” Gaeto says. “We can detect gas leaks at parts per billion, which is much more sensitive than the typical off the shelf equipment that’s been in the industry for years. And we can also do this while driving a car down the street.”

“A lot of gas instruments only detect emissions, but ours can also quantify them. For the last seven years Picarro has been developing software with US and European operators to work off this hardware.” 

It is this combination of both hardware and software that gives Picarro an edge over the competition, Gaeto says, giving it a majority market share in the field of methane detection and quantification from distribution systems. It also helps operators find leaks in the transmission and upstream sectors. With every leak that is detected and quantified, the company’s algorithms improve, he says.

Geographically, most of Picarro’s work in the field is in the US and in Europe – namely France, Germany, Italy and the UK, which boast the continent’s largest distribution systems. The company is also working with numerous operators in Australia and Latin America to help identify super emitters and quantify fugitive emissions, Gaeto says.

With scrutiny about methane emissions from the oil and gas industry ever growing, the range of solutions that operators can detect and quantify emissions continues to expand. While some like Picarro mount their instruments to vehicles, others strap their devices to drones, helicopters and aeroplanes to get more coverage than simply sending personnel with handheld devices to sites. There is also broadening demand for satellite data.

While Picarro has developed algorithms to pinpoint and quantify methane data from publicly available satellite data, this data lacks the resolution needed to find leaks in distribution systems.

“In distribution, operators generally start with a leak threshold of 10 cubic feet per hour as a super emitter, and as the system gets in better and better shape they lower that threshold,” Gaeto says. “A satellite struggles to find leaks smaller than 100 cubic feet per hour.”

Devices mounted on planes and helicopters similarly fall short, and there is the added problem of the emissions caused by flights. Meanwhile, there are limits to the flight time and range of drones.

“The problem with drone technology is mostly about logistics, and those logistics lead to astronomical costs and durability and scalability issues,” Gaeto says. “It’s not that these technologies don’t work, it’s that they aren’t suitable for distribution systems.”

Meanwhile, results from handheld devices are prone to human error.

There is increasing regulatory pressure on operators to detect, quantify and eliminate methane emissions according to specific standards, particularly in the EU, where lawmakers are currently negotiating a legislative package setting out rules on methane emissions from the energy sector. 

Picarro sees itself as the only means to accurately quantify emissions from a distribution system. Prior to its technology becoming available, operators had to rely only on emissions factors. Operators are now turning to Picarro to get ahead of the regulation, by finding out exactly how much their systems are leaking now rather than waiting for the stricter rules to arrive, Gaeto says.