Oil and Gas Startups Podcast

0:00 What is going on guys? Welcome back to another episode or we'll get started as a podcast. We've got Jenny and Maddie from Champion X. Obviously you guys are not a startup. Everybody knows what you

0:09 guys do. But we're here to talk about some of the things that may be people who haven't been paying attention to Champion X recently. You guys have been making moves. Okay. I've been hearing some

0:18 things through the grapevines and little birdies been telling me that you guys have like low key become some of the leaders in some of the new emissions technology. Everybody, everybody knows you

0:27 guys from the chemical space, right? But you're doing some cool stuff in emissions. We happen to meet in Midland. So let's get on the podcast. Let's talk about this. So welcome to Houston.

0:36 Welcome to studio. Thanks, Jake. Yeah, we're excited to be here. Yeah. Thank you so much. Excited to be here for sure. So tell me a little bit about this technology. Great. So before we dive

0:47 into the technology, let me give a little intro to kind of our space of emissions. Cause you're right. You mentioned champion X is a really well known champion. X is known for our chemicals. I

0:56 like to say we have four pillars We have chemicals, production automation technology. our digital and then also emissions. So in 2021, ChampionX decided to invest in the emissions space by

1:07 acquiring scientific aviation. Okay. And through that, we acquired a company that had a good standing and science from the founder, Dr. Conley. He flew the Eliso Canyon, Eliso Canyon, excuse

1:20 me, that is historically the largest leak that we have quantified. And with that, there was a little journey he went on. It was quantifications of planes, went on to drones, and then came to a

1:31 continuous monitoring, the Sufi, which is our, I kind of like a household product name now. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. But with that, we also decided we don't want to just

1:41 offer a widget, we don't want to just offer one technology, we want to offer a suite of solutions, 'cause ChampionX, you know, our goal as a company is part of our values is improving lives and

1:51 working with operators and providing a service. So with emissions, along with all of our other product lines, providing that service. So you wanna, you think you wanna add anything to that,

2:03 Maddy? No, Jenny, I think you kind of hit it on the nose. Yeah. Great. So, okay, so let's talk about really quickly. I have so many questions. There's so many different directions that we

2:11 can go with this. What's else background? Are both in Midland now?

2:16 Maddy, what's your background? My background. Yeah. So I have been with Team BNX for about a year and a half. Okay. I started in the fall of '22

2:26 So I started out actually kind of on the back end of working with Sufi more primarily, which allowed me to actually get really close with a lot of operators that were utilizing the technology and

2:38 then allowed for me to really understand one the technology myself, understand the emissions space, and then work on growing

2:50 those relationships. There was a big kind of focus on the support aspect And so that's what I got to do for about a year. And then Jenny kind of talked to me into the idea of working on the other

3:04 side of it to really get to build the relationships with operators from kind of the ground up. So I had to sell the desert to her. Yeah, just a little bit, just a little bit. Could you read me

3:13 from what, Michigan? No, I grew up in Colorado. Colorado. Close, close to Michigan. Oh, we had her. She was here in Houston and then we pulled her. Yeah. What's that? Yeah. Yeah. It's

3:23 Colorado. Yeah. It's all the same thing. Yeah, same. Yeah. Absolutely. With your eyes closed Yes. But I know it was a really good transition going from kind of the back end support to really

3:34 getting in front of people.

3:37 It's been something I've enjoyed so far. That sounds awesome. Jenny, what's your background? Yeah. So my background is not emissions. I joined Champion X in 2021. Prior to that, if you take me

3:48 all the way back, I was in the military. I was in the Air Force. Oh, yeah. We talked about that. Yeah. After the Air Force, I was in land. I did land management for a while. and COVID is

3:58 when I decided I would take a look at venturing into something else. And after COVID, you know, my husband is also in land. We both decided we would probably not keep all of our eggs in one basket.

4:09 And I started venturing into other areas and found the position of business development manager for the Permian region. And I focus on just the Permian geomarket of all of our emission speeds. And

4:20 so I took this position and it's been, honestly, it's just been a crazy ride ever since, because even though Champion X is a big corporation, we're really empowered to focus and act as a startup

4:35 in a corporate, like, umbrella. So it's, we are essentially the wild kids, I guess, if you would say, in the company. And so it's been really fun to have, essentially, Champion X is backing

4:49 of a large company, but also the speed of just converting things really quickly. So there's a lot of technology in the space you've got from

4:59 satellites to flyovers, whether it be planes, drones, whatever, to things that are on sites, that are detecting, the little sniffer boxes that some people are putting out, all sorts of crazy

5:10 stuff. What kind of technology we actually talk about with you guys? Ooh, good question. So you want me to take that, Maddie? Yeah, go for it. Yeah, so what we like to say is our everse,

5:19 right? So we have an emissions verse, but that's our digital aspect of it. But we say a toolkit, we have everything, we don't have satellites, but we have everything from planes down to our

5:29 continuous monitoring. And so the way you would wanna think about that is if you're an operator, how are you gonna cover your assets? And so everyone has a different plan and different reason that

5:39 they're going to come at their emissions portfolio and how are they evaluating it or how are they monitoring it? And so the goal for us was to be able to create an emissions monitoring plan for them

5:50 and not just push just one technology on them and say, Oh, you need this one, this one. 'Cause one isn't really gonna get it done. if it was, that would be great, but it's not. You kind of

5:59 need a suite of solutions. So our planes, we can fly your assets really quickly and get a lot of information really quickly. And so for instance, like in West Texas or other regions that are

6:11 really dense or not, we can fly, do a quick fly-by and then give you, say, hey, here's a hotspot, focus on here and give you more of a plan. And then after that, kind of like a top down, you

6:22 would go from there. Another thing is our drones We have drones, we actually have new OGI capability with our drones, it's called the Halo. We just recently added that. Sounds fancy. It's pretty

6:34 fun. It's really great. And so, and also along with our Aura camera, so we've been doing a lot of new fun things in Champion X in the last two quarters. And so with the new release of our Aura

6:43 OGI camera, our drone, Halo drone, and then our new version of the Sufi. But those are just the three, right? So we have the drone, and then after that, we have which drone we can quantify and

6:54 do OGI. And then after that, we have our OGI handheld and then also our aerial OGI helicopter. So we can do helicopter flights and get just optical gas imaging and provide imagery for you, the

7:07 thermal imaging. And then we can go all the way down to our continuous monitoring. So everything I just mentioned is just gonna give you a stamp and time of an imagery or a quantification. So

7:18 that's why science has brought us to, it'd be really nice to know continuously what's going on So that way, if something happens way out in the middle of the field or whatever, you can kind of

7:28 manage your assets and not have to be right on top of them. What's the difference between, so you mentioned drones, you mentioned helicopters, practically the same things that one of people, one

7:37 doesn't. What's the difference from a technology standpoint? Ooh, that's a good question. So with our helicopter, we have on our helicopter, we fly, it's got a gimbal. So it's more about like

7:47 coverage, what's your goal? So with a helicopter, I can cover about a hundred to 125 sites a day and I'm fine that and I have a. a gimbal, we also have like a 4K resolution camera on that. So we

7:59 can give you, we say Hollywood quality imagery in a regular RGB image. And then we also have our vintage core, which is amazing quality of OGI. And so we shoot that, but we're doing it fast,

8:12 right? We're flying, we're circling it, we're flying, we're circling it, and we can cover a lot in a day. And so that, what I'm gonna do with that is bring that back. We turn around reports

8:21 like within 24 hours and sometimes 48 hours And also I can even call my operator from the air and say, Hey, you gotta flare out. I mean, it's just really interactive, but you're getting a lot of

8:32 coverage. Now with the drone, something like OGMP 20, that we've seen a lot of customers use it for that case in the sense of quantification, think more site level individual sites. So you're a

8:43 helicopter, even though you're getting site level analysis, you can cover a bunch in a day. With your drones, you're gonna have to account for your drive time, right? Like you're gonna have to

8:52 drive to the next one our drone is our most accurate quantification tool. So that's an interesting - So what will be the frequency of flyovers? Is that something - It depends on the customer and the

9:05 goals, right? Like what's your plan? Are you trying to meet regulation by the EPA, which Maddy is definitely my expert that can talk more about that? And I'm talking so much. Maddy, what would

9:17 you recommend like frequency on your flights? Yeah, so if we're talking regulation, it's gonna be anywhere from quarterly to semi-annually, just depending, you'll have voluntary flights,

9:28 non-voluntary flights. So, I mean, we see frequencies from monthly all the way down to annually. So, it just, it really depends on the customer, but honestly, it's gonna be what you see kind

9:42 of on that first flight, I think, and then that's kind of the frequency you wanna move to after just ensure that when you're looking at LDAR programs,

9:54 Your sites are functioning. You don't have super leaky sites. If you see something that's continually out, it's like making sure we're staying on top of that. So it. And another reason to add to

10:04 that's a really good point. To add to that is in the past, it might have been like a negative thing to have all this data. But now having a data log is a positive thing because you can have, and

10:16 Maddie can add more to this 'cause she is like, she dived into our, like I said, our reg of 1600 pages and ate that apple But so if we have some customers that fly monthly and what they're doing is

10:28 they're essentially just creating a data log of their leaks. So if I go out and I fly and there weren't, there were no leaks on your site. And then, you know, they go out and say, for instance,

10:38 I believe, you know, a government agency or when that goes out and surveys and identifies, you have an a leak. Well, you can date it back to that last survey. And so you're really only penalized

10:47 for that duration versus half a year. So it helps in that way. So you go from, let's just say, at the minimum, a monthly, or I said, I'm actually monthly frequency on the flyovers, moving

11:01 towards more like continuous monitoring. Does that go into more of like the LR cameras or the handhelds or? Good question. So like, I think what you're totally pointing out, Jake is really like

11:13 the thing that everybody kind of sees with it. And what we see with it is you're only like, I can fly it, but then you got to wait 30 more days for me to fly because it's just not really economical

11:22 for you to fly every week, right? But continuous monitoring is economical. That's our Sufi. And we can currently deploy this technology, it's a metal oxide sensor. And I can just kind of, if

11:36 you want, explain how that works. So the way the Sufi's work is it's the same science as our planes and our drones, essentially, for how we convert leak rate and plume modeling to triangulate and

11:48 identify the leaks various different things, you know, we're doing geo tagging, geo-referencing, and whenever we're setting up the sites due to, you know, different algorithms and things, how

11:58 we set them up around your equipment, our ultimate goals were depending on the atmosphere and they're out there and we're taking five readings per second. That's averaging into a minute. And those

12:09 readings are like temperature, humidity, various different things. And then after that, that one minute data is averaged and continues and then we take a leak rate with our wind because we have a

12:18 2D sonic anemometer on location as well. And so we take all these things together and we create you a leak rate every 15 minutes. It can be less. It could be more. And then we also can tailor your

12:28 alerts to whatever your goals are as well. We can do thresholds custom or we can set them like if you're trying to achieve the super emitter, just really focus on that. We could set around 50

12:38 kilograms, 80 kilograms per hour, whatever works for you. And then we're waiting on the wind to move. And so the wind, people don't realize it, it moves a lot like quite a bit because we only

12:48 need it to move a little bit. to kind of shift the plume or move the gas around. And so that's what we depend on and then you get these readings. And what's really neat is with the SUV, you can

12:58 dive into your data and you'll see these little PPM readings from your methane. And that's what you get is your continuous reading. So then you said, okay, once you have that, so you've detected

13:09 it, you've quantified it, you said you guys are giving reports to the customers on, is it more like a full-on remediation plan? Like, hey, you've got this, here's how to deal with it and here's

13:20 like, I don't know if you're swapping out valves or if you're just like identifying the leaks and then walk me through that. Like, what is actually the giving customer and like, what are the next

13:29 steps once we've actually detected? No, that's a great question. Actually, I'm gonna let Maddie answer that 'cause this is actually a wonderful place where Maddie would support us in her previous

13:37 role. Yeah, absolutely, thanks, Jenny. Yeah, so whenever we're talking about data, what we're gonna see is it actually comes up on a dashboard and that's kind of the digital aspect of what we

13:46 have So, all the technologies. We're working to make sure it's all kind of combined into one area. But specifically with Sufi, what's happening

13:56 is we're gathering all of this data. You're going to see these 15-minute postings for the day to be get. And that's going to be really great. PPM, wind data, and then it also works on that, on

14:07 showing what the plume is. Or at least we're seeing that triangulation for what's happening on site. So, you know, it's over kind of an average of time. And what it's looking at is the background

14:18 And if we have this sustained event that we're seeing on site, then we're going to get that database to send you that alert. And so, once those operators are alerted, that's kind of where, I

14:32 guess, we step in to be showing them what it is that we're thinking that the leak's coming from. So, from there, it's kind of on the operator to be able to go out and, you know, check that out,

14:43 make sure that the data Well, there's two pieces, yes. We have different models where the customer can work with us. And we will partner with them to monitor their data. And then we have some

14:58 situations where they're kind of very hands-on and they want to dive into their own data. I mean, it's just what works best for them, but essentially we have a dashboard and they have all this data

15:07 into a user-friendly interface and they can work and they can do exports. We have open API, we can push it to theirs. So different ways of receiving it, but in the end it's your alerts, right?

15:18 And so if you want to interrupt, you can go in there. Yeah, no, that's great, Jenny. I think that's a really good point to bring up. Yeah, so as inside sales or any support on the backend,

15:27 what we're doing is we're having these sustained conversations with our customers to say, okay, this is what we're seeing on site, we're seeing this kind of repetitive pattern. So what we're gonna

15:37 do is look at the background, see where you want your goals to be set at and we'll work on kind of lowering those alerts

15:45 thresholds for you So, I mean, we have some operators that - like bi-weekly every week that we're touching base, just to make sure that where they're at with their monitoring is where we're going

15:57 towards our goals too. So it's really just figuring out where they wanna be and then finding a good solid place to get that set. And what motivates their goals are things like the OGM P20, you know,

16:10 their LDAR programs. To me, quad OA, quad OB, things like that. So there's different, there are greenhouse gas reporting So there's specific things they're working towards. And so when they

16:21 come to us and say, Hey, we wanna get, you know, these, here's our goal. Here's what we have to work towards. Then we would like make an assessment and then make a recommendation of our suite

16:33 of technology. And then we would go from there and then we're kind of always partnering with them to kind of process that data. However much they want us involved. You know, they might be like,

16:42 We got it, we're good. And then we just step back. But if not, we're really involved, so Are there any common misconceptions about this space? Ooh, that's a really good question. That's a

16:51 really good question.

16:54 Common misconceptions about this space. I think right now because of the nature of the new regulation being out and, well, since 2021, we've kind of, since I've come on, the new proposed

17:11 regulation has definitely made things not so much,

17:18 it's just been uncertain, right? And so everybody's been working really hard. And that's one thing I would like to give a shout out to all the operators on. Like everyone I've worked with, having

17:28 come into this space, like, you know how it is. Like operators don't get the credit they deserve in this. They've been working so hard to mitigate their methane in different ways. And some people

17:38 have been implementing technologies and plans and trials that are not required by regulation. And some of them have even been focused on things To meet a proposed what if kind of scenario and so I

17:51 think the misconception could be that people are the operators don't care and I don't I don't think that's the case at all I think I see our customers that we work with they. They not only are

18:04 changing their emissions they're also changing their cultures and it's really it's really cool to be a part of that I think in the beginning days I think it was a I think it was you see a lot of

18:15 public companies doing it and it was a this big question whether the privates would follow and having a lot of conversation with those big private independent since they are doing as much if not more

18:26 a lot of times when they don't have that pressure from the investor base who's telling me to clean these things up they're just doing it because they want to do it and they're spending lots and lots

18:36 of time and lots and lots of capital on making sure that they've You know completely remove these legs absolutely and I guess one thing I'll add to that you know if they are doing a box in the space

18:47 but. something I recognize is they're putting a lot of me in power towards this too. And it's already, sometimes it's in a space where they don't have the extra man power to go do any and do these

18:58 things. And that's where I think with a culture that we have at ChampionX, it's like, it's really centered on the support aspect and having the service mind of making sure that we're helping

19:11 whenever it comes to the new power. That's your power I think to your point,

19:17 the large public companies, right? They do have the resources to jump out there and get ahead of it, and that we've probably seen that kind of pioneering there. And for the smaller privates, it

19:29 is. It's quite an investment for some. Now, I will say the continuous monitoring is not that large of an investment. It really isn't for some of the things we have to do in operations. However,

19:38 ChampionX, that's definitely something we wanted, we saw and we wanted to make sure and offer that to our customers, right? Like, hey, you don't have to do it all. We're here to help out in

19:46 that regard. But to kind of like also add to what you said about privates being very

19:54 involved in pushing it forward and moving their culture, it has been really cool to hear. Like I can think of a few customers that are private companies to hear like how the paradigm has changed and

20:06 how they're seeing emissions almost a little bit like safety, you know, and it's, they're changing their designs, they're changing. And so it's like they're doing a lot of different things, not

20:15 only to monitor it, but now to even consider how to prevent it. So it's, it's really neat to watch the culture across the board from operations to repair shift, absolutely. What is, what are

20:28 some of the biggest challenges that operators are facing in the space today, you think? I mean, you guys are, you're in the trenches, you're talking to them every day. Like what's the number one

20:36 thing that kind of comes out of the mouth? Is it, for a while, I know it was a little bit overwhelming, right? There was all the new regulations for when it was understanding the regulations,

20:45 What are the implications? What does this mean for me? And then there's tons of new technologies that have come to the space and so trying to wrap your head around. Well, how do I build this

20:53 admissions tech stack? Like you said, it's not just like a one size fits all thing. You've got to stack a few of these things together to really kind of grid a grasp on that. What are you, what

21:02 are you guys seeing?

21:05 Um, let me see. So the biggest challenge I'm trying to think through some things. I think, I think that the complexity of the new regulation has probably been the biggest challenge that I've seen

21:17 as of lately. I do think we've seen, I mean, okay, so for ChampionX, we have, uh, been working really hard to make sure all of our technologies are ready to go as soon as we can, like, um,

21:30 March 8th, we, the new proposed reg went to the federal register. And so, you know, May 9th, excuse me, May 8th, we can apply for Sufi and all of our technologies. The only thing that

21:41 currently meets regulation is the drones in our Aura OGI handheld camera. And so we're doing everything we can to make sure that our planes, aerial OGI as well as our, what else am I, Sufi? Sufi?

21:54 Are gonna meet our regulation. So what we can say as a service provider is we know that that's something operators are thinking of. And so we're trying to get ahead of that and ease their minds

22:04 there like, hey, we're gonna make sure that the minute it opens, we're there and we're doing everything we can. We're doing testing to make sure we fit the box essentially But because it's new and

22:17 nobody's done the application process and it can take 90 days after up to a hundred. And 200? Yeah, 200. I mean, it's just the unknown, the uncertainty of it. So I think the biggest challenge

22:30 is getting ready for Quato C and also understanding all of the regulations. And then, you know, there's a design, there's gonna be operational aspect to it and then just really looking at the

22:45 whole. looking at it holistically, not just emissions monitoring only, but how are they looking at it at all? Like evaluate, 'cause when you do Quato C, like you're going to be covering all of

22:55 your assets. And so, or monitoring all of your assets. So, I mean, I think that their big picture is just, it's a very big picture. I mean, would you agree with that, Maddie? Yeah, no,

23:06 Jenny, I think that's a great point. And, you know, something else to maybe add to that is just how they're gonna operationalize too, especially with those state implementation plans and the

23:16 monitoring plans that they have to kind of sort out. I mean, it is gonna come to how do we do this? How, you know, 'cause we're having, we're going from Quato A, which is kind of that set

23:29 standard of what's happening in the space now, but Auto B and C, they're really going to kind of force the hand of the operators to get out there a lot more, more frequently, see more sites. So

23:42 it's just a lot more as far as boots on the ground. going out there, checking all their sites, frequency of doing all of that. So it's just, how does that kind of fit into their operations? And

23:55 so I think that's, I mean, that's gonna be a big piece. Operationalizing is probably the biggest thing we've heard, right? And so

24:03 we like ChampionX, I think we've done, we have over 8, 000 TVs deployed. So we've helped a lot of customers implement these technologies and operationalize them essentially. I think that when we

24:22 get new customers and things and we talk to them, we do get a bit of like a, okay, how do we get this? How do we bring this into our culture? How do we adopt this into our workflow? How do we,

24:31 you know, so I think that is the biggest piece. Thanks, Maddie, that is. That would probably be an old term. One of the challenges that now people are talking about is someone in Deaver, which

24:39 had Phasier over there, He was saying that with the LDR cameras, there's not enough technicians to run and service these things, which is for one, that's kind of challenging if the regulation is

24:50 requiring that or making that the standard. But two, who might always said, the means people are putting this, like they're actually doing work and so therefore all people that are tied up. So

24:59 that shows that we are putting in a ton of effort as an industry to meet these regulations. Yes, absolutely. And I mean, so for instance, like if you go to Quato C, it's just the amount of work

25:11 force, the increase in workforce that you would need to meet it. Like the talent and the premium alone is questionable, right? So it's just a lot of things in how, a lot of challenges ahead of

25:21 that. And so that kind of leans into opening up to the advanced technologies, right? Like the EPA opening that opportunity for these technologies to get passed. So that's why we definitely are

25:32 being optimistic that we think everything will move forward positively because I think that the EPA probably sees that being a big challenge as well.

25:42 What are the implications if you don't meet the regulations? Maddie, since you read the 1600 page document, do you know, do you have those numbers off to tell your head? So, I mean, we can open

25:52 it up. If we're talking implications, are you talking more, as far as like dollar signs and what that was, okay. Yeah, so what they're doing is they're going to be moving more so into like

26:02 really understanding how much is being admitted. So they're, they wanna have more of an empirical number of what's coming out of all of these sites. And so what we're gonna start seeing is that

26:15 they're going to put equations on pretty much everything. So really getting into the thick of how much is coming from each of these sites for each operator. And so they have kind of this, I guess

26:29 it's a baseline or your threshold is actually what it is, it's a threshold. And so it's 25,

26:37 000 metric tons of CO2E

26:41 a threshold of, and that's across all basins, so that kind of - So is that for the company or is it on our basins? Per operator. Okay, per operator. Per operator. Per year? Per year, yes. So

26:47 you have this threshold that

26:55 you can kind of get to, but anything over that, they're gonna start adding this kind of tax,

27:01 or V, it's kind of interchangeable, and it comes to that, but for this year, for 2024, the reporting what they're going to do is anything over that threshold is gonna be900 per metric ton. And

27:14 so, it's kind of where it gets a little tricky, but we - Much on your mouth, my head, I'm like - Yeah, it can get, I mean, if you look at just the late grade of the super-meter event, if it's

27:25 100 kilograms per hour, and you have that late duration of like, what, five days, I mean, that's a hefty, hefty amount, so and

27:37 that kind of moves into one of the other things that they're really adding in, and it's called measurement methods. So they have five different methods, and basically what they're gonna do is

27:46 they're gonna ask you how long was it leaking, what was the leak rate, and do you know what the component was? So understanding all of that information. So they have the five different methods,

27:59 and I think it's like the last three are kind of where it really starts to get a little bit dicey with the numbers, because you're having to do what they're calling, what is, oh my gosh, I'm

28:11 blanking on it, is they Vio? No, that's part of the Quato. Oh, okay. So it's the emission factors, sorry about that. Yeah, so emission factors. So based on whatever they find is leaking,

28:25 you'll have so much that you'll have to kind of put into an equation, and that gives you what your leak rate is. And then they're going to look at that leak rate, or see what the leak is, and then.

28:37 put a duration, and that duration is basically going to be the last time that you were on site with an OGI camera, or having been on site to know that something was happening. So if it was

28:50 biannually, that's close to 180 days that you would be having to go back to the data log of fights in the 30 days, so that would be something that would trigger that

29:04 So again, that can become very, very big numbers very, very quickly, and so that's why we're working really hard to make sure that when we fit into those methods that are going to let you know

29:17 when did it start, what's happening, and what the building grade was. So that way we're not having to default and use these really high numbers because a lot of it's going up like 200 And that's

29:29 the emission factors, yeah, that's what I was going to ask you to talk more about. Can you explain that a little bit, Maddie, like how much the emission factors have changed? Yeah, so they did.

29:38 They did some research. They've been doing studies, projects in other regions. And what they've come up with is actually looking at these emission factors. And so they've adjusted these equations.

29:52 And those factors are going up anywhere from like 40 to close to 200 or 2, 000. It's insane amount of increase in some of these because they saw that maybe this piece of equipment is looking a

30:06 little bit more. So we probably need to add some more factors to it. So it's extensive. When does Quatto C take effect? So yeah, so it's not so much when it takes effect.

30:20 So what it's looking at is when you made changes to a site, essentially. So when it was constructed, finished construction, or any changes that were made. And so that's what's going to determine

30:32 whether it's Quatto B or Quatto C and with so much. happening as far as making some of these sites more on the electric side, that's going to be considered basically like a change. And so they make

30:45 some modifications. Then it's the modifications. I think it's going to be part of the agency. So yeah, yeah. And so really, when it comes to the regulations, when we're talking Quato B, Quato

30:56 C,

30:58 Quato A, all the Quatos, all that that's looking at is really what type of site is it, what kind of changes? When did you finish? And then it tells you how often you're supposed to be out there

31:10 on site. And then that's when you'd mentioned OGI and the EVO. So you have both of those options to be able to do your surveys. And so the surveys are done under Subpart W, which I know a lot of

31:24 operators are already very familiar with. But the Subpart W tells you the reporting aspect, Quato, tells you how often. And then the other thing, which we were just talking about

31:37 That's the methane emission tax or the yeah, the

31:42 Isn't it the methane emission fee in the F one of those one of those two

31:48 Yeah, and it's under the IRA and so that tells you how much you have to put towards what you you reported on So kind of pieces it all together since you're a walking chaggy beauty

32:01 Did you pick up on it?

32:04 Oh, no,

32:08 is there anything? Is there anything that People are not talking about that they should be and all the new relations that are coming up

32:17 I mean, I think the one thing that and so taken to mind the reason we wanted to totally dive in and so when Maddie moved to the Permian and I was like look Maddie the best thing you could do is just

32:29 eat this elephant of the regulations and there She went and did it. I mean, she obviously did a really good job But I think the one thing when we did that, what we really wanted to understand was a

32:37 super emitter. Because a super emitter was like, yeah, and we really just are trying to wrap our heads around how is a super emitter gonna work and how is it gonna, you know, is it a fee, is it

32:46 a fine? Or is it gonna roll into the methane charger? So do you wanna chat about that one? What you learned this meant? The super emitter fee, how that works. Excuse me, the super emitter

32:55 program. Thanks, Jenny. And honestly, I do have to kind of give some of the credit back to Jenny because I probably would never have thought that this would be such a big thing, but talking about

33:06 regulations and being able to understand it from this aspect has just been so eye-opening, but also to help operators, like understand. Because I think there are pieces, Jake, that not every

33:17 operator is probably going to be looking at, and the super emitter is very much at the forefront of everybody's mind. It's such a big kind of beast, a little bit, because there's just, I think

33:30 there's quite a bit goes into it. So. Really, the supermitter, all that is it's we're going to have these third party. Um, I don't want to say operators, but it's going to be third parties that

33:41 are going and flying over. Um, they'll have satellites, you know, they're validated. Yes. Yeah. They do. They're validated by the EPA. Yes. Thank you. No, that's great to point out. So

33:51 they, yes, they do have to apply and be an approved third party. Um, one thing they did change with this newer release was that they can't be on site. It has to be remote. Um, so that means

34:03 which means they They can still be standing, like they can still be on ground, like on the ground. Yes. They don't have to be aerial. They just can't be on location, right, like on your

34:12 location. So yeah, go ahead. Yeah. So no, that's great. Thank you for adding that in. Um, but yes. So what they're going to be looking for is any event and you leak event that's a hundred

34:22 kilograms per hour or larger. Um, so that's what classifies that super emitter is a hundred kilograms, uh, per hour leak.

34:31 once they have that, they'll send it to the EPA, the EPA is going to figure out who it is, and then send that operator a notification. And then what the operator is going to do is look at their

34:43 data, if they have it, which is, again, where a lot of this technology comes into play to helping, but they're going to look at their data, they're going to make sure that the coordinates given

34:52 for the

34:55 supermitter was within, I think it's a 50 kilometer radius, I believe It's a pretty small radius that they're going to have to look at, and if they're within that, then they would have to kind of

35:06 go out there, and that's where OGI comes into play, or if they have continuous monitoring, they can use that information, and then if it's not, what they're able to do is say, this is our data,

35:17 this is where our site's at, we don't fall into that radius, not us. And so I'd like to add to that, thank you for sharing that. Of course. We had a customer call us the other day and they were

35:29 notified by Bloomberg. and said, Hey, we saw a really large eventthat would have qualified for the Superimeter programbecause it hasn't implemented, right? It's not an effect yet.

35:41 And they were able to go and identify just by evaluating their Sufi data, that it was not theirs. It was another neighbor of someone. So they were able to quickly, and I mean, just think of the

35:54 power in that, they did not have to deploy resources. They were able to quickly just identify on their dashboard, hey, we can see a start and a stop, and that's not there. And so, yeah, sorry,

36:04 Bloomberg, that's not gonna happen. But it was a positive thing, and so for them, right, so they had sent them down the road. But that was one way that we see Sufi working the best for the

36:13 super-emitter program, so. Yeah.

36:17 one more point, I'm sorry, I'm gonna get into it. We started talking regulations and I'm like, oh my gosh, I do nerd out a little bit. I can finally use all this knowledge. I know, it's just

36:27 been chapped in here. You're just waiting for trivia, where somebody like, it's like a trivial pursuit with admissions questions. We seriously had that. Can we have a game night with Maddie?

36:35 Digital Wildcatters. Yeah.

36:38 Oh my goodness. Yeah, so quick little tidbit. So, oh my gosh, I just lost my train of thought Oh, it's okay. It'll come back to you. No, okay, I found it. Okay, we're good. So, with the

36:52 supermitter, so one thing that they're gonna ask is that you have kind of this due diligence, I want to say, but really it's a root cause analysis. So, you're going out to site, figure out what

37:04 it is it's leaking, and then that's where you're kind of putting into the measurement methods and the emission factors and all of that. But if, as it's written currently, continuous monitoring,

37:17 you'll be able to utilize that data and not have to go on site and

37:21 do the OGI verification. Which again is a big deal because of the resources. You have to deploy that. The operations piece. Absolutely. So with that, can we tell you about our new Sufi that's

37:35 coming? Yeah. What's the difference with the new Sufi? Okay. So our new Sufi, I'll tell you this. I'll tell you a little bit about our current Sufi, and then I'm going to let Maddie tell you

37:43 about our new Sufi because we already decided she's going to get to share the new fun things, and then I'll tell you about our Aura camera. So our current Sufi does all the things we discussed

37:51 earlier, right? So we have over 8, 000 in the field right now. They're working just perfectly fine. But because we deployed these, ChampionX has done a really good job of hearing their customers.

38:02 And like I was saying earlier, like us being in a startup environment, we had the voice of our customers to say, Hey, this would help us in our operations. This would help us in our workflow, or

38:11 this would would make things better. And what we heard back was a few things on our hardware, and then a few things on probability and attribution. And so with that, if you wanna kinda talk about

38:20 our hardware. Yeah, absolutely. So the changes happening are actually gonna be pretty aesthetic. I will talk about that first. So we're gonna see a little bit of a change as far as what the Sufi

38:31 look like. So it's prettier. It's much prettier. It is very neat. Yeah, it's pretty fancy. It's much smaller. Okay. Yeah,

38:41 so we've changed it to where it's more of like a single, I don't

38:47 know how to relate. The biggest, the biggest, the biggest thing is that

38:51 it doesn't have a fan. Okay. I mean, to me, that was kind of like the biggest aha, right? Yeah, okay, yeah. So, and I mean, if you've seen our branding, Emissions Champion X has gone

39:02 bananas with yellow. So we've, our Aura camera is yellow, our Halo is yellow, now our Sufi's yellow, so we rebranded everything. But it's also just really rugged. Our whole thing is rugged and

39:15 reliable. Our current Supee has been rugged and reliable, but our new one is even more rugged and reliable. Didn't know we could get there with it, but here we are. And it's fanless. And so the

39:24 current version, we have a fan that pulls in and we have our metal oxide sensor on the interior. And what we need is that fan, we've needed the fan to pull the gas and to get that to the oxide

39:36 sensor, metal oxide sensor. Well, what we learned is it pulled by too much of battery So power pool was too much. And so we are able to get a smaller footprint, a smaller solar panel by

39:49 eliminating the fan and also water intrusion. So we were able to eliminate water intrusion because we did have a little bit of water intrusion in some of our older versions. We have modified with

39:59 our current versions, but with some of our old generations that we had out 'cause we started installing these in about 2019. We did see some issues with water getting in light to our snorkels and

40:09 things And so that would be water intrusion is one you're not going to get water in this you don't have to touch it or you can't work on it in the field. Yeah. So, all right, go ahead. I was

40:19 giving you a minute to pause on the screen. There you go. Yeah, thanks. No, thanks, Jenny. No, and you know, so it is gonna be kind of that single modular infrastructure for the Sufi itself.

40:30 On the underside, you're gonna have that metal oxide sensor. We have places to do H2S, NCO. And then one other thing to know is with our metal oxide, we also are able to do

40:42 TVOCs. So, they all come that way So, all of those are options for what we get to read for you guys. And then, let's see, we have the fan, Jenny covered that, which is great. It's a really,

40:54 really big change for us. We have this smaller solar panel. We have a single bracket kind of install. So, the installation piece is so easy, it kind of comes all together when we ship it then all

41:08 you really have to do is put it on the pole and then clip the. the solar panel to whichever angle you want. We have multi-angle solar panels for that just to make sure that you're getting the best

41:19 coverage for wherever you are. Try to think what else we have internally. We are going to have the accelerometer so that lets us know if it gets backed over, if it gets moved or tilts, whatever

41:35 happens, it's going to let us know that something has happened to that soupy because we've seen, unfortunately, in the field, they do get backed over just because it's a construction. I mean, it

41:46 can be anything. We've actually had them just disappear. Yes, that happens too. And so with that, not a lot. Yeah. And thankfully, we added the GNSS or the GPS system in that too. So that's

42:00 going to help with our triangulation piece. So whenever it comes to the actual readings and getting that good plume, it's going to help with that but it's also going to let us know that anytime that

42:09 gets moved or whenever we're on site. it just has that exact reading for where it's at. So, and to also to add to that, which we don't really, we don't deal with this at all in the Permian, but

42:21 we've heard in places like Canada, you get so much snow and it just covers it essentially, but you'll know it's still there from that as well. So, I wanted to add that 'cause I remember. Yeah,

42:31 that's a great one. I have heard about that. Tell me about this Aura camera. Are you gonna hear about the Aura? I wanna hear with the Aura camera. Okay, all right, so Aura, okay, listen. We

42:40 created the best camera on the market I don't know how to say it any other way. And when I say we, I mean, I - I love your own enthusiasm. Nobody's as enthusiastic with this concept. We love our

42:48 company, we love our product. We love our products. And I'll say, our team is, I will also say, like, we have a really fun team. Who's watching this? Is your boss watching this? Oh,

42:56 probably, probably, yeah. But we weren't endorsed, I promise. We promise, yeah. So, okay, but I will say every time, I think we are both a couple of nerds 'cause every time we go on a demo,

43:10 Oh, you're gonna second that. Yeah, we're gonna learn every time we go on a demo, we learn more about our tech. You know what I mean? And it's just like, wow, these new things, right? Like

43:19 we, so our Aura camera.

43:23 So David Vary, he's been in the industry for about 20 years. And he is the company that was mentioning LSI that it would be acquired in 2022. So he actually invented the original OGI camera And

43:36 when we purchased him, he was like, okay, my wish before I retire will be to build this camera. And here it goes, right? Off into the back room to build the camera. I'm giving you the dramatics

43:46 of it. And so him and our team of engineers all got together and developed this camera that, I mean, when I take to customers and give a demo, they literally are just like, wow, I think you

43:59 might have over-engineered this. Like you might have over-did this thing. So cool we actually ran over it with a truck and it didn't break it. It's just perfect. So the camera is your OGI. We put

44:12 a vintage core in it, it's a cooled core, it's about six pounds, it's just really rugged. But the thing that makes it so cool, and these are gonna be like my not so technical terms, is it's like

44:24 a Roomba for a camera. So it has that inertia movement in it, I think I'm seeing that correctly, inside the camera where we have a routing capability. We have, this is my camera. The camera

44:35 moves? No, no, no, it has the technology and once you know how the Roomba, it will map itself and then we'll go back and you have a Roomba. I don't. Okay, well, you know, if it maps itself,

44:46 like it can go back and it will relearn its route or get a smarter route. So we have those type of technology capabilities with it. So I can go out and essentially say, I'm a senior technician. I

44:58 can go out and set up a route and I'm essentially going out and just tagging different things and then a person can come behind me the same route, not even the same camera, the same route and do the

45:11 same path. Yeah, the same path. And so that, in this sense, it's a little bit like a video game. So that piece has been really awesome because currently what people are doing and everywhere are,

45:25 they're doing it either through like,

45:28 they're doing it digitally through a software or they're having to do it via writing So. Who writes these days? Yeah, nobody does that anymore. Mine is the LDR. text, they have to do it a lot.

45:41 Yeah, so they go back, they essentially go back to their shop, they have to spend hours upon hours of doing editing of their imagery and then writing notes of where they were and it's just based on

45:52 this like four hours say you're out in the field doing four hour surveys and you got to come back and do your editing. Well, we've eliminated that additional four hours by having the routing and

46:01 targeting capability in the camera. Okay So you just send it to the cloud and it's good to go. And we didn't want to be essentially a

46:11 software compliance for your LDR program. So we have open API for that. Everything we have, we can push to a different platform if you want it. So is there something I'm leaving out? I feel like

46:20 I'm leaving something out on my way. Well, we should probably talk about resolution. Oh, yes. Resolutions that have a huge one. Yeah, so we're four times the resolution of any camera on the

46:31 market right now. So we've - Humblebrag. Yeah, I mean, we're so humble Yeah,

46:39 we could probably work on that, but yeah. Four times the resolution, and let me think. I think that's pretty much it. I mean, that's kind of got some good wow factor, right? Yeah. Yeah, I

46:50 guess one thing to add, 'cause I mean, it's all spot on, but a lot of the team that's behind this were operators or have worked in this space for a long time, and so they understood kind of the

47:02 pain points that a lot of these L-Dartecs and these operators having every day, having to do their outdoor surveys or their Quato or subpart, whatever it may be, they kind of knew the pain points.

47:13 And so what they really tried to do with this camera is take those away. And then with the kind of the data aspect or the software aspect, it's been, you know, whenever they see something or hear

47:25 something from an operator. That reminds me, Appendix K. So Appendix K is a very complex reporting. And so you have to, it's your dwell time and kept standing there for like 10 seconds. So the

47:37 camera will actually, when you walk up, it will tell you, okay, you can hold the button down. It'll tell you, okay, you've been here 10 seconds, move on. And inside you're routing and

47:45 targeting capabilities, you can like select what it was. And then it can say, okay, this is a yes, a leak, no, a leak and move on. And so that's one thing that it was built for that in mind.

47:55 But we don't want people to think it was only built for that because Appendix K can be very complex. Like you have to hit a lot of different things. And for operators, Like, so you can go out and

48:05 say you're just, you know, hitting just your tanks. We can set up a route that way as well. So.

48:11 And I'm trying to think, uh, the other thing is, um, you see, yeah, I mean, I think we hit it, right? I think we, I think we do a great job. We, we slam dunked or another humble brine.

48:27 Or is great. But I mean, let's talk about how we sold it. Yeah. We're pretty awesome. No, just kidding Just trying to make sure we check off all the things here and our suite of solutions,

48:37 right? Well, I know we have to get a job out of here by a certain time. Ladies, this has been awesome. I feel schooled up. Now I know that Maddie knows every single realization known to man

48:45 questions. I'm just going to hit you up. This has been awesome. Thanks for coming to Houston. Yes. Thanks for having us. So great. If anybody wants to find more information about the products,

48:54 reach out to you guys. Where do they go? Well, I mean, I guess, honestly, you could email us. We can, our information will be provided If you connect with either one of us, we can get

49:02 connected in the Permian or you can just come to our website. There's a contact form on the Champion Ex emissions area and just submit it into our contact. Love it. Go reach out to them, leave a

49:14 rating review, like, subscribe, get you guys a nice episode.