Detecting Methane from Offshore Oil and Gas Activity

Some exciting new observations from Planet’s Tanager-1 satellite are revealing methane sources from offshore oil and gas production activities — sources that are difficult to monitor consistently. These initial observations are an exciting step to filling critical data gaps, and we look forward to building on them over coming months as we continue to refine our capabilities.

What we see: Methane emissions from offshore oil and gas operations

The ability to routinely observe offshore sites is historically limited by logistical and technical challenges, as offshore infrastructure is located in remote areas that are difficult to access by ground, air, or sea. 

Monitoring methane offshore is challenging primarily because passive hyperspectral imaging relies on reflected sunlight to make quality measurements. When a satellite looks over a large body of water, almost all the sunlight is absorbed by the water’s dark surface and not reflected back to the sensor, making routine detection and quantification of methane sources nearly impossible. 

The problem of little signal over dark water bodies is mitigated by employing an imaging technique called glint mode. Executing glint mode takes considerable satellite pointing agility — coupled with correctly timing satellite viewing angles with solar angles. 

Planet’s Tanager is equipped with the abilities to task for glint, helping solve the issue of remote observation of offshore platforms. This allows Carbon Mapper to more accurately characterize methane super-emitters from offshore infrastructure and detect sources that may have gone unnoticed otherwise. While we are still refining glint mode capabilities for routine tasking and observation, we have some promising early data.

In April of this year, about 250 kilometers off the coast of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, two methane super-emitters from offshore oil and gas production activities were detected by Carbon Mapper using Tanager’s glint mode observations. Further analysis revealed the plumes were emitting from drillships, which are frequently used for offshore drilling and production in deep and ultra-deep waters.

The drillships were located in the Santos Basin’s Tupi Oil Field, which is the largest oil field in Brazil and deepwater oil producer in the world — producing around 830 thousand barrels of oil per day. This is nearly one-sixth of the production levels from the U.S. Permian Basin, and production is planned to grow to 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2027.

Along the Atlantic coastline, methane emissions were detected coming from an offshore oil and gas platform about 20 kilometers from Pointe-Noire, a port city in the Republic of the Congo. The source, observed on March 10, 2025, was emitting an estimated 2,427 kilograms of methane per hour, which is equivalent to CO2 emissions from consuming 7,647 gallons of gasoline.

Why seeing methane from offshore sources matters

Offshore oil and natural gas platforms are responsible for about 30% of global oil and gas production, which makes these emissions sources crucial to identify and address. Data and insights from offshore emissions will be even more relevant as global demand for liquified natural gas grows and offshore oil and gas leases are expanded. 

Despite significant production taking place offshore, methane observations to quantify these emission sources are not readily acquired or made publicly available. This makes it difficult to facilitate oil and gas leak detection and repair programs, which may undermine society’s ability to meet methane reduction targets like the Global Methane Pledge.

These initial offshore results from Tanager build on a 2022 Carbon Mapper airborne study that explained the importance of sustained monitoring and mitigation efforts for offshore sources. That study showed that methane loss rates from shallow water sources were significantly higher than typical onshore production — and that those sources were often emitting persistently over days, and sometimes, months.

Using data from Tanager, we will be able to access shallow and deep water offshore infrastructure across the global oil and gas sector. Filling these data gaps on offshore methane emissions will offer industry, government and community leaders a better path to understanding the true emissions from these sources and how to address and mitigate them.

While Tanager’s glint mode capabilities are still growing and will continue to need development and refinement, these select offshore observations offer a rare chance to see emissions from key production areas that are slated to grow in coming years.

Learn more

• Visit the Carbon Mapper data portal to browse all data. 
• View Data Dispatches that highlight interesting emissions we’ve detected and share how Tanager-1 is providing greater transparency of global emissions.