ExxonMobil is developing a powerful data analytics platform to measure methane emissions in the US Permian basin with plans to scale the technology globally.

The US supermajor is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and atmospheric technology company Scepter to analyse emissions from a range of monitoring platforms that operate from the ground, in the air and from space.

The companies say the technology has the potential to be applied to a variety of industries, including energy, agriculture, manufacturing and transport.

“Technology solutions are essential to reduce methane emissions globally,” ExxonMobil Unconventional Technology portfolio manage Sam Perkins said.

“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 programme. 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,” he added.

Scepter — a company that specialises in using global and space-based data to measure air pollution in real time — is working with ExxonMobil and AWS to conduct stratospheric balloon missions to test the optimisation of methane sensors at high altitude.

AWS was brought in to develop an analytics platform that can analyse the data from a range of detection capabilities, which will eventually include satellites.

“Advanced AWS cloud services make it possible to rapidly synthesise and analyse information from multiple sources, and are a perfect choice to help Scepter achieve its goal of helping customers reduce methane emissions,” AWS aerospace and satellite director Clint Crosier said.

“AWS’ secure, global infrastructure will help Scepter rapidly and reliably deliver high-quality, actionable insights to its customers, when and where they need them the most.”

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