Innovative Partnership Sets New Standards for Methane Detection and Mitigation

Scepter Inc. and ExxonMobil have joined forces with Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS) to develop an innovative data analytics platform aimed at characterizing and quantifying methane emissions. The platform will initially focus on monitoring the U.S. Permian Basin, utilizing a wide range of monitoring technologies on the ground, in the air, and from space.

This partnership has the potential to redefine the detection and mitigation of methane emissions, with future plans for global deployment across various industries such as energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. The significance of this endeavor lies in the urgent need to reduce methane emissions rapidly, as it is considered the most effective strategy to combat global warming and maintain the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to the International Energy Agency, methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, responsible for approximately 30% of the increase in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution (News - Alert). The oil and gas production processes are key sources of methane emissions, accounting for a quarter of the global anthropogenic methane released into the atmosphere. This fact makes the Permian Basin, one of the world's largest oil- and gas-producing regions, an ideal location for the monitoring and mitigation of methane emissions.

Scepter, renowned for its expertise in utilizing global Earth and space-based data to measure air pollution in real time, has been collaborating with ExxonMobil to optimize sensors that will be integrated into low-earth orbit satellites forming a constellation by 2026. These satellites will enable continuous real-time monitoring of methane emissions on a global scale from oil and gas operations.

As part of their efforts, the companies are conducting stratospheric balloon missions to test the technology under high-altitude conditions. The involvement of AWS marks a milestone in the project, as it will facilitate the development of a fusion and analytics platform capable of integrating and analyzing methane emissions data from various detection capabilities operating at different layers, with the goal of eventually including satellites.

Philip Father, CEO and Founder of Scepter, expressed his excitement about the project, stating, 'We will be processing very large amounts of emissions data covering the most prolific oil and gas basin in the U.S. that has made the United States the world's top energy producer.'

The collaboration with AWS, according to Clint Crosier, Director of Aerospace and Satellite at AWS, is a strategic choice to help Scepter achieve its objective of assisting customers in reducing methane emissions. He emphasized that AWS's advanced cloud services enable the rapid synthesis and analysis of information from multiple data sources, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, actionable insights to customers when they need them most.

The data fusion platform developed by Scepter is complemented by a comprehensive portfolio of AWS cloud services, which aid in the processing and aggregation of large datasets captured by the multi-layered system of methane emission detection technologies. AWS Lambda, for example, enables efficient and cost-effective serverless processing of large datasets, while Amazon API Gateway (News - Alert) allows the ingestion of data from multiple sources. These capabilities empower Scepter to precisely pinpoint emission events and quantify emissions for customers like ExxonMobil, facilitating more rapid and effective mitigation.

Moreover, the collaboration with AWS expands Scepter's atmospheric data fusion capabilities, enabling not only the monitoring of methane emissions for oil and gas companies but also assisting other industries, including agriculture, waste management, healthcare, retail, and transportation, in monitoring CO2 and air particulates.

'ExxonMobil is at the forefront of the development and deployment of new state-of-the-art detection technologies as we continue to expand our aggressive continuous methane monitoring program," said Sam Perkins, ExxonMobil Unconventional Technology Portfolio Manager. "This collaboration will enable us to further scale and enhance methane emission detection capabilities while also having the potential to support similar efforts in the industry.'

The importance of this collaboration between Scepter, ExxonMobil, and AWS cannot be understated. The development of an advanced data analytics platform for methane emissions monitoring holds immense potential for mitigating climate change and reducing the environmental impact of various industries.

By harnessing the power of satellite-based technologies and leveraging AWS's cloud services, the project aims to revolutionize the way methane emissions are detected and addressed, not only in the Permian Basin but also on a global scale. The ability to monitor methane emissions accurately and in real time will empower industries to take proactive measures in reducing their environmental footprint. 

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