Name of the Project
Project Astra.

Location
Austin, Texas, in the US.

Project Owner/s
The project is a partnership led by researchers at the University of Texas, in Austin, and the Environmental Defense Fund, ExxonMobil, the Gas Technology Institute and Pioneer Natural Resources Company.

Project Description
The US has become the world’s largest producers of natural gas and a major exporter. However, methane, the main component of natural gas, has a role as a greenhouse gas in climate warming. Project Astra aims to demonstrate a novel approach to measuring methane emissions from oil and gas production sites using advanced technologies to help minimise emissions into the atmosphere.

The project will establish a sensor network that will leverage advances in methane-sensing tech­nologies, data sharing and data analytics to provide near-continuous monitoring.

A potential application of the sensor network is to enable producers and regulators to find and fix significant methane emissions at or below the cost of current monitoring technologies, many of which measure emissions only on a yearly or semiyearly basis.

The first phase of network development, which will test a wide range of methane-sensing technologies and assess their ability to operate autonomously, will be conducted in the Permian basin region of west Texas. The full network will be designed in virtual reality using a simulation of oil and gas production (in greater West Texas).

The simulation, created at the University of Texas, will model the concentrations of methane and other components of natural gas minute by minute, which would be expected in the atmosphere under normal operations and when unintended emissions are present. This simulated atmosphere will be used to identify the types and locations of methane sensors that would be most effective in collecting data. It will also be used to evaluate methods for analysing the sensor data to locate unintended emissions.

“This project has incredible potential and will open new pathways for companies to find and reduce methane emissions from the more than one-million existing oil and gas wells in the US,” lead investigator on the project, University of Texas professor of chemical engineering and the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Resources director David Allen has said.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start/End Date
The simulated atmosphere is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.

Latest Developments
None stated.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Cockrell School of Engineering, Pat Wiseman, email patrick.wiseman@utexas.edu.