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Upstream oil and gas, measured to the last leak.

Wellpads, tank batteries and gathering facilities are many, small and mostly unstaffed, and methane rules now expect leaks to be found, quantified and fixed with evidence. An observation network on every pad reads gas, flow, pressure and flare, watches with thermal cameras and weather stations, and reports over satellite or private radio to one record that operators and regulators can check.

Industry

Energy

Measurements

6

Sources cited

5

1. Energy · Upstream oil and gas

   Many small sites, one emissions record

   Upstream oil and gas runs on many small, mostly unstaffed sites spread across a basin. Methane escapes from equipment, tanks and flares, and the rules now expect leaks to be found, fixed and reported with evidence. The only practical way to know every pad is an observation network that never sleeps.

2. What is measured

   Gas, wind, flare and flow

   Gas sensors sit around wellheads, separators, tanks and compressors; a weather station gives wind for attributing a rise to its source; a thermal camera watches the flare and the tanks. Pressure, flow and tank level come from the pad controller, so emissions are read with their production context.

   Instruments

   Methane sensors · Thermal camera · Weather station · Pad controller data

3. The base node

   A node that attributes and confirms

   The pad’s base node reads every sensor, signs and stores each value and runs the attribution logic: from wind direction and sensor positions it estimates where a rise came from, and asks the camera for a clip. The event leaves the pad with its evidence, not as a bare alarm.

4. Radio and links

   Satellite where nothing else reaches

   Most pads have no network, so a LEO terminal carries readings and clips to the operations centre. Dense basins can share one private LTE network, battery sensors on tanks report over LoRaWAN, and public cellular serves the pads it reaches. The station stays the same whatever the link.

   Radio

   Satellite · Private LTE · LoRaWAN · Public cellular

5. How it works

   From a sensor to a work order

   A methane rise is read over Modbus through the industrial gateway, joined to wind and camera data on the node, signed and sent by satellite to the record. There it opens an event with its likely source, a work order for the crew and an entry in the emissions inventory.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the basin and the rules

   The scope starts from the operator’s sites, equipment counts by type and the methane rules that apply to each. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns a monitoring design per site class, the radio approach, the repair workflow and the reports each regulator and reporting framework expects, with a price per pad and per facility.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Survey a sample of every site class

   Crews visit representative pads, tank batteries and compressor stations with the operator’s field staff. They map emission sources, prevailing wind, sight lines for cameras, sky view for satellite terminals and the controllers already on site, and record each position so the design repeats across the class.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Access, hot work and data agreements

   Installation follows the operator’s permit-to-work and hazardous-area rules, with equipment certified for the zones it enters. Agreements set which data goes to partners and regulators, and how sensor alerts are recorded in the leak detection and repair programme. Every installation is recorded against the site’s equipment register.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Build one design per site class

   Stations for each site class are assembled with their sensors, cameras, weather stations, nodes, solar power and satellite terminals, configured and tested on the bench. Each is enrolled with its identity and labelled for its position, so a crew installs a known design rather than improvising on the pad.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Install on the crews’ routes

    Installation is planned along the crews’ existing routes. Masts and solar go up first, then gas sensors around the sources, the thermal camera on the flare and tanks, the weather station clear of obstructions and the gateway to the pad controller. Each pad is photographed and its positions recorded.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Commission with a controlled release

    Each node proves its identity, then sensors are checked against calibration gas and, where agreed, a controlled release confirms the pad’s detection and attribution. Alert thresholds and the repair workflow are tested end to end, from the pad to the crew’s tablet.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    From alert to repair, with evidence

    The console shows every pad, its emissions trend, flare status and production context. An event arrives with its likely source, its wind and a camera clip; a crew is dispatched, the repair is recorded against it and the emissions record is updated, ready for the reports the rules require.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Calibrate and follow the field

    Sensors are bump-tested and calibrated on schedule, stations are moved as pads are added or abandoned and software reaches the fleet in rings. Every visit updates the record, and the year’s data feeds the measurement-based reporting the operator commits to.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    From the pad to the regulator

    Field crews receive events with the equipment to check; maintenance closes each with its repair; environmental teams build the emissions inventory from measurement; production engineers see flare performance; regulators receive the reports the rules require. Each product is built from the same signed readings.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Evidence the rules ask for

    Calibrations, controlled-release tests, every event, every repair and every report are signed and kept. Monitoring follows the methane rules that apply to each site and the reporting framework the operator has joined, so an inspector or a partner can trace any reported number to its readings.

    Drawn against

    40 CFR Part 60 · Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 · OGMP 2.0

16. What you get

    Environmental and permit monitoring

    Emissions, water quality, noise and dust monitoring for permit conditions, with traceable calibration and evidence bundles. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for industrial operators, municipalities, regulators. Scale: Site to portfolio. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan upstream oil and gas with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for upstream oil and gas. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextUpstream operations drill and produce wells, then separate, store and compress what comes out on wellpads and in gathering facilities. Sites are spread over large areas and visited by crews on routes rather than staffed. Methane, the main component of natural gas, escapes from equipment leaks, venting, tanks and incomplete flaring, and regulations in several jurisdictions now set leak detection and repair duties and reporting.

Hazards

• Methane and volatile organic compound leaks from valves, connectors, tanks and compressors
• Unlit or inefficient flares and unplanned venting
• Hydrogen sulphide where sour gas is produced
• Fire and explosion around wellheads and tank batteries
• Spills of produced water and oil

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A pad station: gas sensors, a thermal camera and a weather station read by a base node that signs every reading and keeps it through a lost link.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A wellpad or facility: sensors around every emission source, the existing controller reached through an industrial gateway, and a satellite or private radio link.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   Every pad of a basin run as one fleet, with one alert policy, one repair workflow and one emissions record.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Operators, joint-venture partners and regulators read one federated record, each with the access their role gives them.

   The open protocol →

• 01Gas detector (industrial)
• 02Flow meter
• 03Thermal camera
• 04Compact weather station
• 05OT gateway (OPC UA, Modbus)
• 06Edge node (Wedge)
• 07LEO flat-panel terminal
• 08Solar array
• 09Battery case
• 10Pole

Radio and links

Satellite

Many pads lie beyond any network; LEO terminals carry sensor data and short video clips from each pad to the operations centre.

Radio and links

Private LTE

In dense basins, one private network over the field carries pad data, cameras and crew tablets at a lower cost per site.

Radio and links

LoRaWAN

Battery sensors on tanks and remote valves report short readings without cabling across the pad.

Radio and links

Public cellular

Where public coverage reaches a pad, a cellular modem is the simplest backhaul.

Edge computeThe pad’s node attributes a methane rise to a likely source from wind and sensor positions, confirms it with the thermal camera and sends an event with its evidence, so a crew is dispatched to the right equipment.

PowerPad stations run on solar and batteries sized for the darkest season, independent of the pad’s own power, so monitoring continues when the site is shut in.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the basin and the rules

   The scope starts from the operator’s sites, equipment counts by type and the methane rules that apply to each. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns a monitoring design per site class, the radio approach, the repair workflow and the reports each regulator and reporting framework expects, with a price per pad and per facility. 12

2. 02 Survey

   Survey a sample of every site class

   Crews visit representative pads, tank batteries and compressor stations with the operator’s field staff. They map emission sources, prevailing wind, sight lines for cameras, sky view for satellite terminals and the controllers already on site, and record each position so the design repeats across the class.

3. 03 Permits

   Access, hot work and data agreements

   Installation follows the operator’s permit-to-work and hazardous-area rules, with equipment certified for the zones it enters. Agreements set which data goes to partners and regulators, and how sensor alerts are recorded in the leak detection and repair programme. Every installation is recorded against the site’s equipment register. 2

4. 04 Build

   Build one design per site class

   Stations for each site class are assembled with their sensors, cameras, weather stations, nodes, solar power and satellite terminals, configured and tested on the bench. Each is enrolled with its identity and labelled for its position, so a crew installs a known design rather than improvising on the pad.

5. 05 Install

   Install on the crews’ routes

   Installation is planned along the crews’ existing routes. Masts and solar go up first, then gas sensors around the sources, the thermal camera on the flare and tanks, the weather station clear of obstructions and the gateway to the pad controller. Each pad is photographed and its positions recorded.

6. 06 Commission

   Commission with a controlled release

   Each node proves its identity, then sensors are checked against calibration gas and, where agreed, a controlled release confirms the pad’s detection and attribution. Alert thresholds and the repair workflow are tested end to end, from the pad to the crew’s tablet.

7. 07 Operate

   From alert to repair, with evidence

   The console shows every pad, its emissions trend, flare status and production context. An event arrives with its likely source, its wind and a camera clip; a crew is dispatched, the repair is recorded against it and the emissions record is updated, ready for the reports the rules require.

8. 08 Maintain

   Calibrate and follow the field

   Sensors are bump-tested and calibrated on schedule, stations are moved as pads are added or abandoned and software reaches the fleet in rings. Every visit updates the record, and the year’s data feeds the measurement-based reporting the operator commits to.

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Methane events with likely source and evidenceField operations and leak detection and repair teams
• Emissions inventory from measurementEnvironmental and reporting teams, regulators
• Flare performance recordsProduction engineers and regulators
• Repair records tied to each eventMaintenance teams and auditors
• Pad status and production contextProduction and operations centres

Integration

• Field SCADA and historianPad controller data arrives through an industrial gateway over Modbus or OPC UA and is stored with its quality flags.
• Maintenance managementEach event opens a work order and closes only when the repair is recorded.
• Emissions reportingMeasured emissions are exported for the inventories and frameworks the operator reports to.

Exchanged through OPC UA (IEC 62541), MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

Does continuous monitoring replace leak surveys?

That depends on the rules that apply. Where regulations allow continuous monitoring as an alternative or a complement, the design follows them; otherwise it supports the required surveys with evidence between them.

Can you quantify emissions, not only detect them?

Sensor readings, wind and source positions allow estimates of emission rates with stated uncertainty. Methods and their uncertainty are documented so reports can show how numbers were made.

What about sites with no power or network?

Stations run on solar and batteries and report over satellite, so they work on pads with neither.

Can we use the cameras we already have?

Usually yes. Cameras with standard video interfaces are read by the same node, and their clips join the same event record.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 140 CFR Part 60: Standards of performance for new stationary sources, including the oil and natural gas methane subpartsUS Environmental Protection Agency (eCFR)
2. 2Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sectorEuropean Union · 2024
3. 3Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0) reporting frameworkUnited Nations Environment Programme
4. 4Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8)World Meteorological Organization
5. 5ISA/IEC 62443 series: security for industrial automation and control systemsISA and IEC

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Energy: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

Plan a deployment, configure a station, model it in the Studio or talk to sales. The form names who receives your details.