Drones in the Oil Patch: Pipeline Inspections, Methane Detection and the BVLOS Push
By R. NEMEC, Contributing Editor
(P&GJ) — Tommy Kenville, CEO of North Dakota-based Isight Drone Services, has been around aviation his entire life. His father was a pilot and he has flown solo himself although he has never received his pilot’s license. Instead, Kenville’s drone business employs more than 20 licensed pilots with part of its services devoted to the energy sector and various other businesses spread across 47 states.
Kenville has spent his career since 1988 in aviation and is passionate about the possibilities for increased cost reduction and efficiency in data collection for various applications in the energy sector and elsewhere. He worked at the University of North Dakota aviation school for 14 yrs and then began his own businesses. He helped U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) when he was the state’s governor attract the infant drone industry. He consulted with the state government to seek the entire industry—not just services, but manufacturing and much more. “We’re doing it all,” he said, referring to his state as a leader in unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
While various parts of the energy sector have been using drones for maintenance and construction tasks through service providers like Isight and with their in-company resources, the growth in their use has been slow, according to Kenville. Industry sources are more bullish on the energy space’s adoption of UAS, and the general artificial intelligence (AI)-driven statistics reveal drones growing throughout the global economy at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of slightly less than 10%.
Globally, drones are experiencing significant growth, with the global market valued at an estimated $73 B in 2024 and projected to reach $163.6 B by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.3%. Key drivers include the expansion of commercial applications like delivery and agriculture, advancements in technology and increased investment in commercial and military sectors, according to online market analyses. North America is a leading market, holding the largest share.
The U.S. commercial drone market alone is projected to reach $14.5 B by 2030. The U.S. is expected to create more than 103,000 UAS jobs, with California projected to have more than 17,000 of those jobs this year.
Chris Moore, PhD, and executive director of Illinois-based GTI Energy’s Center for Methane Research (CMR) and Hydrogen Emissions Research Consortium (HyRES), views UAS technology as more widely deployed for specific uses across all segments of the oil and gas supply chain. “Companies have worked extensively to understand where drones can offer an advantage, such as for inspections/leak detection on offshore platforms, in production or hard-to-access pipelines in swamps or under bridges and for responses to natural disasters in transmission and distribution. The technologies are continuously advancing,” according to Moore.
Rotary-blade drones hold the largest revenue share, especially for applications requiring hovering and precise maneuvering like inspection and photography. Hybrid drones are expected to see high growth due to their long-endurance and heavy-lift capabilities, making them suitable for tasks like cargo delivery and surveying.
“Rotor-type UASs have advanced significantly in the last few years, particularly with increased payload capacity and advances in battery technology to allow for longer flight times,” Moore said. “The platforms have also become more robust and more capable of flying in rougher scenarios, either with [poor] weather conditions or in hard to access areas.”
Moore stresses that drones are not “intrinsically safe” and must be operated at safe distances from potentially hazardous environments. However, he does not think it has been a typical hurdle since the whole purpose of the UAS systems is that it can be deployed at a distance from the specific facility or piece of equipment.
Isight uses a 12-ft. wing-span gas-powered drone that spends 7 hrs in the air. “So, this plane can do a lot of pipelines, a lot of inspection,” Kenville said. “We have done some demonstrations with Marathon Oil.”
Kenville said there is good methane-sensing technology to put on drones, but his experience is that some operators do not want to sign multi-yr contracts, and “we’re not going to invest $100,000 in the methane-sensing technology without a multi-yr contract.” He acknowledged that some oil companies have adopted their own internal drone programs, employing their own drone pilots.
Isight has done work for Tulsa-based ONEOK, Inc., the midstream pipeline operator. “We have some discussions ongoing with them,” noted Kenville in early October. “I would like to do a lot more oil/gas business, but it has been a tough market for us.” He described the energy space as a “slower adaptation” [for drones] than he had anticipated.
In May, the American Gas Association (AGA) held an annual operations conference and exhibition highlighting some of the latest technology for gas distributors, and drone and AI-powered technologies were on prominent display. “Whether it’s deploying predictive analytics to anticipate maintenance needs before they become service issues or leveraging satellite data and drone technology, the industry is showing that it’s actively shaping the future, all while keeping customer needs at the center of every breakthrough,” an AGA spokesperson noted at the time.
TC Energy’s Zachery Locks, manager of geohazards and damage prevention, noted that AI is really “just another tool in the toolbox. Where it has really come into play the most is automated stress detection,” identifying hurdles and barriers in energy networks. That can be identifying an excavator on a pipeline rights-of-way (ROW) or a landslide in a remote area. Locks serves as a committee chair with the Virginia-based Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI).
“What we’re seeing with AI is the ability to automate the imaging,” he said. “Whether it comes from a drone or another source, it can potentially identify things that pilots miss. It can also detect small changes between flights that otherwise would be missed.
“In an ideal world you would have a fleet of drones flying around and they would just automatically be recording things,” Locks said. “We’re not there yet. That is sort of the vision of where this could go.”
According to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), drones are extensively used at U.S. oil refineries for safety, security and operational efficiency, performing inspections, monitoring infrastructure and responding to incidents. AFPM has addressed concerns about unauthorized drone use and provided guidance on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. Recent developments include new legislation like the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act, which may support drone infrastructure, and a landmark approval for Chevron Corp. to fly drones over its pipeline airspace.
Interstate pipeline operators contend that at present, the biggest regulatory hurdle is centered on the FAA’s delayed issuance of Section 2209 rulemaking, which would establish a process for operators of fixed site facilities to apply for a no-fly zone for drones. “This section has been incorporated by reference in a beyond-visual-line-of-sight [BVLOS] rulemaking and is significant in ensuring the safety and security of our facilities,” according to a knowledgeable pipeline expert.
“As a consequence, the largest safety hurdle is the unauthorized use of drones over energy facilities and the potential for catastrophic impacts to operations if those drones are manufactured with payloads designed to cause damage to those facilities.”
The FAA regulates drone use by requiring registration and adherence to certain requirements based on whether the drone flight is for recreational or commercial use. Commercial use, such as those for oil and gas operations, continue to require pilot certification and, at present, most flights require observations unless waived by the federal agency. However, the FAA, jointly with the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking around BVLOS capabilities that would support larger scale use of drones, particularly for remote facilities, with additional requirements around pilot licensing and safety.
Drones inspect hard-to-reach areas like flare stacks and tanks, which can be dangerous for human workers. They offer cost-efficient and precise inspection that can improve data quality and enhance safety. “Drones offer an aerial view to monitor critical infrastructure and protect against threats,” according to AFPM, which offers a drone tool kit to its members. “Facilities are increasingly using counter-UAS radar to detect and track unauthorized drones in restricted airspace.
“Drones can perform inspections much faster than traditional methods, and AI/machine learning can analyze the collected data to identify potential problems or needed repairs. Drones are valuable tools during natural disasters or other incidents, enabling safe access to areas that are inaccessible or hazardous for humans.”
This Fall (2025) when an explosion and large fire occurred at Chevron’s major El Segundo, California (U.S.), refinery drones played a pivotal role in assessing the eventual damage on the ground and helping to determine the safety of the site for employees to return, a Houston-based company spokesperson told P&GJ. Caused by a high-pressure line failure, the heavily publicized incident along the Southern California coast resulted in a massive fireball and smoke plume visible for miles, though it was contained within the refinery. Chevron reported that all personnel were accounted for with no reported injuries initially, but a subsequent lawsuit alleges injuries to four contract workers.
U.S. drone proponents fear that America has fallen behind (globally) in building high quality drones suitable for an entry level market. “There are not a lot of American manufacturers, so we have a fleet of 20ish drones [mostly Chinese made], and we fly customers’ drones on some projects,” Kenville told P&GJ. “In the wind industry, especially, operators design their own drones for the job.”
He is dependent on China for drones, and the Trump administration tariffs at times have created problems for Kenville’s operations in that regard. “Some of the best ones we have are $50,000 Chinese drones,” he said. Drones are changing all forms of industry working on 4,000 mi–5,000 mi of electric power lines, or 5,000 acres of farmland irrigation systems.
Kenville is worried that costs are not coming down, and the global economics of today have not improved things. Longer term, drone operators need more U.S.-produced batteries, for example. The regulatory and safety part of the industry is also a concern. “Right now, the FAA basically owns all the air space,” Kenville said. “There are places now where you can fly a mile and a half in any direction without BVLOS, so when we inspect a pipeline, we have a pickup truck following the drone with a pilot in the passenger seat. That is the bare minimum way we can make money today.”
According to Kenville, in these cases, BVLOS is not needed, but for the future, beyond-visual-line-of-sight needs to be more widely available. “Our company goal is to have ten or twenty of those big drones flying in the oil patch instead of a big plane because they gather better data and are less expensive. As you fly today, the rule is two guys in a tail-dragging plane looking out the window.”
With a push from the Trump administration, the FAA has proposed a new rule (Part 108) that could usher in an era of autonomous drone flying. Industry officials like TC Energy’s Locks are excited about the prospects. Part 108 also should help boost more U.S. manufacturing of drones and bring down the cost, Locks thinks. Even with the new rule there will still be limitations on altitude and where drones can fly, other observers point out.
Kenville said that Isight’s share of the oil and gas market is smaller than he would like it to be, “but we’re making progress.” Isight’s two large drones are both American made—one for $60,000 and the other costing $100,000. Costs are also impacted by the level of sophistication of the camera used. They range from a few hundred dollars to $20,000 each. “We fly a lot of drones in the $30,000–$40,000 range,” he said.
GTI Energy and its affiliate have worked with both pipeline operators and federal regulators to verify various technologies used in remote leak detection.
In 2022, GTI Energy’s managed collaborative operations technology development (OTD) helped evaluate and validate a single drone-based system provided by Austin, Texas-based Seek Ops, Inc. as part of a research effort funded by the U.S. Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), along with Colorado State University’s methane emissions evaluation center. The conclusion was that Seek Ops drone system is effective in detecting leaks in underground pipelines, but further testing was needed for underwater lines.
As the drone sector has long recognized, weather is a major factor in any aerial reconnaissance, and the GTI’s work noted that fog can impair leak detection work as can survey procedures that are too rigid. “In the real world, to take advantage of the ability of drones to cover large areas there should be a combination of ‘first flying a predefined path’ to ensure proper coverage, then targeted investigations in areas where there have been detections,” wrote GTI Energy’s Chris Moore. “This further highlights the need for a rotary drone for ‘hard-to-access’ scenarios studied in this project.”
A second GTI project on drones funded by PHMSA resulted in a recommended practice for implementing and validating new leak detection technologies for natural gas transmission lines. “The advances have also allowed payloads to evolve,” GTI Energy’s Moore said. “For instance, in the methane/leak sensing space this has allowed for developers to deploy new technologies that do not have to fly directly through a plume to detect.”
In conclusion, GTI officials noted, the project assessed the use of UASs to respond, survey, and identify leaks in pipeline infrastructure in response to natural disasters, calling them “a vital tool to first responders.” UASs can increase access to hard-to-reach areas, improve response times and provide the ability to operate from a safer distance. The team conducted field tests, assessed sensor methodologies, and established recommended best practices with standard operating procedures (SOPs) to use UASs for emergency leak surveys and leak investigations.
Technology tied to the drones is advancing steadily, according to the experts P&GJ spoke with. TC Energy’s Locks characterizes the sector as at a starting point for real widespread acceptance as it becomes a familiar way to complete facility inspections. “So far, it has been limited in its usage,” he said.
“Manned aircraft are the current standard for facility patrols,” he noted. “The regulations are more favorable and the planes have a higher payload capacity. You can potentially have more sensors and people in play.” Multiple drones with various payloads would be needed to equal one manned flight. The manned aircraft are also potentially faster.
“Drones are just not quite there yet from both a regulation and technology standpoint,” Locks said. It depends on the job. He uses an example of inspecting an onsite tank.
Relating to his research role with PRCI where a project on the drawing board would examine use of modest-sized blimps, Locks said the overriding objective for the industry is to make a case for autonomous flight. “Rather than a drone that can only fly one or two hours with a 5-pound payload, you would have a blimp that flies 15 to 20 hrs with 100-pound payload, it could be a lot more economical.”
About the Author
RICHARD NEMEC is a long-time contributing editor to P&GJ who can be reached at rnemec@ca.rr.com.