US DOE in lending agreement for methane monitoring network

The US Department of Energy (DoE), through its Loan Programs Office (LPO), said January 5 it would commit $189mn in loan guarantees to LongPath Technologies to support the development of its real-time methane monitoring network covering oil and gas production basins in six states.

LongPath’s Active Emissions Overwatch System projects aims to cover 25mn acres in the Permian, Denver-Julesburg and Anadarko basins with large-area remote methane monitors that will detect, locate and quantify emissions at tens of thousands of oil and gas sites through a subscription service.

If finalised, the network is expected to prevent methane emissions equivalent to “at least” 6mn tonnes/year of CO2, the DoE said, by enabling subscribers to quickly identify and respond to methane leaks.

The loan guarantees are conditional on LongPath achieving certain conditions, including reaching technical, legal, commercial, contractual, or other milestones.