ZALA AERO will search for methane leaks in the Tyumen region

ZALA AERO unmanned systems will be used to search for methane leaks at oil and gas production facilities in the Uvat district of the Tyumen Region.

Within the framework of integrated air monitoring, methane leakage sites at oil and gas treatment facilities will be promptly identified by ZALA 421-16E GAS unmanned aerial systems. This UAV is a modified model of the classic ZALA 421-16E, adapted for methane leak detection.

ZALA 421-16E GAS also has an on-board computer for processing information directly on board the aircraft during flight, transmitting real-time HD video to the customer's workstations and recording the video stream in Full HD format.

The main feature of methane leak detection is that the flights are performed by two flight groups simultaneously. In this case, a UAV equipped with a gas analyser flies at a low altitude (80-120 metres), and the second unmanned aircraft flying at an altitude of 300 metres or more, following the first aircraft, ensures flight safety. The flight technology provides for 2 overflights per field season.

At the post-flight desktop processing stage, an orthophotomap of the travelled route is created, the places where the background methane threshold is exceeded are analysed, followed by visualisation of the identified violations. For remote access to information, all data is uploaded to the geoinformation system, where it is possible to study the initial data and monitoring results.

The methane leak detection system installed on the BVS is a new technology, the first industrial application was in 2018 at the facilities of PJSC Gazprom. But only in 2021 the system became widespread and ZALA AERO signed contracts and successfully implemented work on more than 10 projects in oil and gas producing companies. This year, there is a positive dynamics of works and expansion of the system application in the largest oil producing companies in Russia.

Since 2014, ZALA AERO has been implementing various projects on the territory of major oil and gas companies, performing remote ground sensing, airborne laser scanning and round-the-clock video monitoring of facilities.