Our Perspective
Our Perspective
AI-powered intelligent maintenance plays a crucial role in methane management, safeguarding the environment and businesses while ensuring regulatory compliance.
Few challenges in the Oil & Gas (O&G) sector are as pressing as managing methane emissions, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. As companies commit to ambitious sustainability goals like COP28’s near-zero methane pledge by 2030, the stakes have never been higher. Methane emissions threaten the environment and drain billions in revenue due to energy waste, inefficiencies, and regulatory costs. However, digital solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) transform how the industry approaches this dual challenge and pave the way for a more sustainable and efficient future.
In FY23 alone, the O&G sector faced tens of billions of dollars in financial losses due to methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. These losses were driven by several factors, including:
Despite the magnitude of these challenges, the industry's current approach to methane management remains fragmented. Methane leaks are often detected through manual inspections, which are labor-intensive and neither scalable nor proactive. Additionally, aging infrastructure and disjointed monitoring platforms exacerbate the problem, leaving teams relying on reactive rather than preventative strategies.
Effectively managing methane emissions requires a fresh perspective and a truly integrated approach. By combining advanced tools like process mining, satellite imaging, LiDAR scans, IoT sensors, and machine learning, companies can unlock powerful capabilities to tackle this challenge head-on. Beyond detecting and monitoring methane leaks, these technologies empower organizations to anticipate issues, respond swiftly, and proactively manage maintenance to prevent minor problems from escalating. With the ability to connect historical data and real-time insights, this approach offers a more innovative, proactive way to reduce emissions, cut costs, and improve efficiency.
Key features of the platform include:
This holistic approach shifts methane management from reactive to proactive, empowering O&G companies to tackle emissions effectively and efficiently.
Key Use Cases Driving Transformation
1. Smart Alerting: The platform generates real-time alerts for maintenance teams when a methane leak is detected. These alerts include precise geolocation and actionable recommendations, allowing teams to address leaks within minutes. This rapid response reduces both environmental harm and energy loss.
2. Intelligent Maintenance: The platform uses advanced ML models to evaluate the health of critical assets. By predicting potential failures, teams can schedule maintenance before issues arise, preventing leaks, extending equipment lifespan, and reducing unplanned downtime.
Together, these use cases create a robust framework for minimizing emissions while enhancing operational reliability.
The adoption of AI-driven methane management offers transformative benefits for O&G companies, inspiring a new era of sustainability and business objectives:
Green-Line Benefits
Top Line / Bottom Line benefits
Integrating satellite imaging, IoT sensors, and advanced analytics offers a practical way to address the industry's most pressing methane management challenges, particularly across vast and remote locations. For example:
This layered approach helps prevent energy loss and environmental damage while reducing operational costs by mobilizing the right resources in real time.
As the O&G industry navigates its energy transition, the need for innovative, scalable solutions has never been more significant. Methane management is an environmental and regulatory necessity and a pathway to unlocking business value through revenue recovery, operational efficiency, and long-term resilience.
However, it's important to note that the implementation of these technologies may also come with challenges such as initial investment costs, data privacy concerns, and the need for skilled personnel to operate and maintain the system. AI-driven approaches provide a transformative pathway for Oil & Gas companies to meet regulatory requirements and advance sustainability goals. By leveraging these technologies, industry leaders can showcase their commitment to a low-carbon future and position themselves at the forefront of decarbonization efforts.
Dr. Lakshmikantha Rao Hosur
Senior Partner – Energy, Resources, and Decarbonization
Kantha has over 20 years of consulting experience related to energy and Energy Transition across Europe and North America. He has worked with clients and assets. Globally. Drawing on his deep knowledge of the energy value chain, Kantha is a strategist. with a proven track record for delivering technology solutions — from ideation to go-to- market — and achieving delivery targets through consulting and portfolio management. Kantha holds a master’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering and a PhD in Soil and Rock Mechanics. He has previously worked with Repsol and Schlumberger (SLB) and is based in Amsterdam.
Sharmad R Keny
Managing Consultant – Digital consulting
Sharmad is a digital transformation consultant with 11 years of diversified experience of driving digital transformation through technology-enabled solutions, lean thinking, and statistical based problem solving for global clients across Oil & Gas, Telecom, Banking, Insurance and supply chain areas.
