BP invests in methane-detecting drone developer

BP announced on March 22 that its ventures arm had invested £3mn ($4mn) in Flylogix, a developer of methane-detecting drones.

The UK major has worked with Flylogix since 2018, monitoring methane emissions at North Sea oil and gas assets. The start-up's unmanned aerial vehicles cam fly as close as 250 m from installations and live stream methane data collected by sensors developed by SeekOps. This helps BP and other operators obtain accurate and quantifiable emissions data, said the oil company, which is striving to measure methane at all its existing major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and target a 50% cut in its methane intensity.

BP invested the latest funds into Flylogix by participating in a £6mn funding round held by the start-up's main investor Amati Global. 

"We are investing in companies that can help us with our net zero ambition and aims. And Flyogix has been instrumental in how we undertake measurements of methane emissions in the North Sea," BP Ventures' managing director David Hayes said in a statement. "Accurate emissions measurements are the basis upon which mitigation plans are based – we look forward to continuing our partnership with Flylogix as it expands into new regions."

Flylogix CEO Charles Tavner added that the latest investment would help the company bring its technology to new regions, describing BP's backing as "a vote of confidence" in its business.

Specifically, Flylogix is looking to expand into the US, Norway and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as broaden its scope to cover detection work in the biodiversity and renewable energy industries, including by inspecting offshore wind turbine blades.