Methane emissions face digital disruption

A range of available tools and scalable technologies is helping drive the hydrocarbons industry towards a low methane future

Operators may have woken up to the potential of automation to reshape business efficiencies and cut costs throughout the past pandemic year. But the next digital frontier will be harnessing technologies to confront emissions and pivot the oil and gas sector towards net zero. A methane mitigation strategy will be at the top of the agenda for many on the path to greater digital maturity and portfolio decarbonisation. “Methane emissions are particularly important because it is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2,” says Samantha Gross, director of energy security & climate initiative at US thinktank Brookings Institution. “Its 20-year global warming potential is about 84 times that of CO2,