Honeywell, Weatherford Team Up to Reduce Upstream Emissions

Honeywell and Weatherford are working together on a comprehensive emissions-management solution for upstream operators. By combining Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's Cygnet SCADA platform, the integrated solution aims to help oil and gas upstream operators track emissions data in near real-time, identify and address potential issues, and meet regulatory requirements.

"Honeywell's partnership with Weatherford highlights the importance of empowering organizations with solutions that can help quantify and reduce emissions within the energy industry," said Pramesh Maheshwari, President of Honeywell Process Solutions. "By integrating our emissions management solution with Weatherford's well lifecycle technology, our customers can now accurately set targets and monitor near real-time progress on their path to net-zero."

The collaboration also provides customers access to analytics and reporting capabilities.

"Through this collaboration with Honeywell, we have built an alliance that further bridges the gap between technological excellence and environmental stewardship," said Girish Saligram, President and Chief Executive Officer of Weatherford. "Together, our transformative offering provides cutting-edge tools and actionable data to help customers reach their sustainability goals with confidence and efficiency."

The oil and gas industry has made many strides toward reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Turbomachinery International’s March/April 2024 cover story looked at several smart technologies—from ground-based technologies to site design and aerial innovations—that the industry uses to abate methane emissions.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hit list, calling it a climate “super pollutant.” Methane has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than CO2 but a greater near-term warming potential. According to the EPA, methane is responsible for approximately one-third of the current warming resulting from human activities and is a greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming factor 28 times higher than CO₂.

One of the big ways oil and gas companies such as bp have reduced their methane emissions is by eliminating flaring. bp aims for zero routine flaring by 2025 at its U.S. onshore operations and globally by 2030.

Saipem, an Italian multinational oilfield services company, also pledged zero methane leakage by 2030. At the Baker Hughes AM, Alessandro Puliti, the CEO and General Manager, talked about the company’s zero-flaring technology for power plants and other areas of the infrastructure to detect fugitive methane emissions.

“All new design and engineering for our new plants is done to ensure zero flaring and zero fugitive emissions while lowering the physical and environmental footprint,” he said.

GROUND-BASED DETECTION TECHNOLOGIES

Oil and gas companies like Chevron use high-tech cameras, such as Teledyne FLIR optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras, in upstream and downstream operations to detect leaks proactively and for regulatory compliance. FLIR OGI cameras quickly scan broad sections of equipment and survey difficult-to-reach areas. They can also detect leaks from safe distances and display invisible gases as clouds of smoke.

“OGI cameras’ largest market is the detection of methane (and other hydrocarbons) in the oil and gas industry from upstream (well pads) to downstream (LNG or refineries),” said Craig O’Neill, the Global Director of Business Development at FLIR. “We also have business in renewable methane industries like biogas production, landfill gas-to-energy, and LNG markets.”