Innovation

  • INNOVATION

    Green hydrogen demonstration drives zero emission future

    A state-of-the-art green hydrogen fuel, developed in partnership between the University of Newcastle and Southern Green Gas has today been unveiled and demonstrated in Hyundai’s NEXO hydrogen fuel cell SUV. ... more

  • INNOVATION

    Scientists discover the key to mitigating impacts of artificial light in tropical forests

    Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a major factor in global insect decline. In a paper published this month in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) s... more

  • INNOVATION

    Scientists use 3D printed rocks, machine learning to detect exploration-caused earthquakes

    Geoscientists at Sandia National Laboratories used 3D-printed rocks and an advanced, large-scale computer model of past earthquakes to understand and prevent earthquakes triggered by energy exploration. Inje... more

  • INNOVATION

    Leading industry players sign agreement to develop new LNG carrier designs

    Qatar Petroleum and several leading international liquified natural gas (LNG) players have signed a multi-party agreement with LNT Marine, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuil... more

  • Green hydrogen demonstration drives zero emission future
    07 Apr, 2021
  • Scientists discover the key to mitigating impacts of artificial light in tropical forests
    23 Mar, 2021
  • Scientists use 3D printed rocks, machine learning to detect exploration-caused earthquakes
    17 Mar, 2021
  • Leading industry players sign agreement to develop new LNG carrier designs
    10 Mar, 2021

Collaboration to pilot novel method for measuring offshore methane emissions

Neptune Energy and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a United States-based non-profit environmental advocacy group, have announced a scientific collaboration to test a first-of-its-kind approach for measuring oil and gas methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities. EDF will coordinate a team of international researchers that includes Scientific Aviation, a provider of airborne emissions sensing, and Texo DSI, a UK-based drone platform provider, to evaluate advanced methods for quantifying facility-level offshore methane emissions, identify key sources and prioritise mitigation actions. Met... more

Successful trials show way forward to making quieter drone propellers

Researchers have published a study revealing their successful approach to designing much quieter drone propellers. The team used machine learning to design their propellers, then 3D printed several of the most promising prototypes for experimental acoustic testing at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s specialised ‘echo-free’ chamber. Results now published in Aerospace Research Central show the prototypes produced around 15dB less noise than commercially available propellers, validating the team’s design methodology. RMIT University aer... more

Scientists use satellite data to monitor methane emissions from pipelines

For the first time, scientists, using satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel missions, are now able to detect individual methane plumes leaking from natural gas pipelines around the globe. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, second only to carbon dioxide in its overall contribution to climate change. The energy sector, including oil, natural gas and coal, is one of the largest sources of methane emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil and gas operations worldwide emitted just over 70 million tonnes (Mt) of methane into the atmosphere in 2020. Until recentl... more

Drones assist researchers to identify dangerous, unplugged oil wells

There are millions of unplugged oil wells in the United States, which pose a serious risk to the environment. Using drones, researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York have developed a new method to locate these dangerous wells. New York State has an estimated 35,000 abandoned oil or gas wells, while Pennsylvania has more than 600,000 dating back to the early days of drilling. Overall, the U.S. has an estimated 2 million orphaned wells. These wells pose multiple risks. They release methane into the atmosphere, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, along with chemic... more

New sensor paves way to low-cost sensitive methane measurements

Researchers in the U.S. have developed a new sensor that could enable the practical and low-cost detection of low concentrations of methane gas. “Detecting methane leaks is critical to the oil and gas industry for both environmental and economic reasons because natural gas is mainly composed of methane,” said Mark Zondlo, leader of the Princeton University research team that developed the sensor. In The Optical Society journal Optics Express, researchers from Princeton University and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory demonstrate their new gas sensor, which uses an interband cascade light-emitting ... more

Petroleum engineers develop tech to simulate mechanical properties of subterranean rock

A test facility simulating rock positions was developed at Samara State Technical University (Samara Polytech) in Samara, Russia. It allows many experiments with the core material to be conducted under conditions close to rock positions at different depths. The original facility developed at Samara Polytech will help to explore the Earth's interior. Under laboratory conditions, the mechanism recreates the physical parameters (for example, pressure and temperature) of a deposit located at multiple depths. The technology makes it possible to accurately determine the mechanical properties of a rock such ... more

3-D model shows off the insides of a giant permafrost crater

Researchers from the Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (OGRI) and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) have surveyed the newest known 30-meter deep gas blowout crater on the Yamal Peninsula, which formed in the summer of 2020. The paper was published in the journal Geosciences. Giant craters in the Russian Arctic, thought to be the remnants of powerful gas blowouts, first attracted worldwide attention in 2014, when the 20 to 40-meter wide Yamal Crater was found quite close to the Bovanenkovo gas field. The prevailing hypothesis is that these craters ar... more