The Permian Basin: oil and gas wells

In December 2019, Kayrros detected a methane plume over the Permian Basin in the US using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite. The Permian Basin is a shale play – an oil and gas region with a high density of wells – meaning there were hundreds of potential sources of the leak. Kayrros therefore used data from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 missions to look into which wells had completed operations within three months of the leak – a factor that would significantly narrow down the potential suspects. The result was that only one operator was in this category.

The example of the Permian Basin shows how the use of the Copernicus Sentinel satellites, in combination with Kayrros’s technology, can be used to narrow down the source of a methane leak. Whilst Sentinel-5P allowed the initial detection, it was only through the use of Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 that the final source could be identified.

Read more: Mapping methane emissions on a global scale