Oil majors including Statoil, Shell and Chevron are experimenting with various technologies, from drones and drill design to data management, to drive down costs and weather a deep downturn.
At the opening of GE’s new oil and gas R&D center in Oklahoma, the multi-business company has also presented its new methane-sniffing helicopter drone called “Raven.” GE started working on the project last year, and it proved that the 20-pound machine can indeed do what it was created for during a test run in July: Raven successfully found gas leaking from a couple of oil wells in Arkansas.