Sniffers detects fugitive methane

EMISSIONS IMPOSSIBLE

LEAK DETECTION • THERE ARE A GROWING NUMBER OF WAYS IN WHICH METHANE EMISSIONS CAN BE REDUCED, BUT DETECTING THEM IN THE FIRST INSTANCE REQUIRES INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

METHANE EMISSIONS ARE a hot topic in the industry, particularly as natural gas demand grows and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions are front-page news. In response to this, The Sniffers, a global service provider in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry that develops emissions reduction, energy saving and pipeline integrity programmes, has launched its Methane Accounting Programme designed to create an in-depth understanding of all potential emitting sources that can be tailored to each individual site.

THERE IS STILL A ROLE FOR SNIFFER DOG MEKI AND

HANDLER LUC IN LOCATING GAS LEAKS

According to The Sniffers, “every player in the gas value chain is confronted with methane emissions,” which makes being able to manage methane emissions with credible, auditable figures all the more essential.

Using data based on actual emissions from a site, The Sniffers develops a fit-for-purpose strategy that can include measurements with toxic vapour analysers (TVAs), high flow sampling or new technologies. Once this has been completed, a team of emission specialists performs field surveys to detect and quantify the recorded emissions, providing a complete and detailed picture of the emissions situation per asset.

The third and final step is the use of the data to continuously reduce methane emissions from a site. Staff assess the methane emission baseline by aggregating the methane intensity to further develop a plan of sustainable improvement to reach environmental targets.

Currently, the Methane Accounting Programme is live in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman and The Netherlands and discussions are taking place to introduce it to sites in Canada, Malaysia, Nigeria, Romania and Russia.

CANINE SOLUTIONS Even though new technologies are being designed and evaluated to reduce emissions, sometimes the old tried and tested methods can still work wonders. Aside from its new Methane Accounting Programme, The Sniffers is continuing to work with sniffer dogs. The Sniffers claims that using sniffing dogs is the fastest, most flexible and most cost-efficient technique to source issues such as gas leaks, illegal tapping and even electrical short circuits.

Most recently, sniffer dogs have been used for a unique leak detection project on underground road crossings in Singapore for ExxonMobil. Speaking about the project, Dr Tiow Wee Teck of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, states: “It was challenging for us to find an accurate and efficient way to evaluate the integrity of pipelines that are only very locally underground, for example at road crossings. Measurement equipment had too many limitations so we had to look for another method.”

This is not a new development for The Sniffers team, as Kristof Verwaest, pipeline division operations director at The Sniffers, explains: “Leak detection on underground pipelines with sniffing dogs is the reason The Sniffers was founded back in 1991. When this opportunity in Singapore came along, our team was looking forward to working on such a unique project.

“It’s great to see that a giant company like ExxonMobil is not afraid to think outside the standard box and is willing to pioneer with The Sniffers’ dogs to achieve their integrity ambitions,” concludes Verwaest. “It’s even better when this leads to a great success. We are proud to have been able to work with ExxonMobil Asia Pacific on such a unique project and to help them with their challenge.” www.the-sniffers.com