Advanced Flare Monitoring Systems for Operators

A flare system is a controlled safety device used to combust excess hydrocarbons or gases that cannot be processed, recovered, or safely retained in operating equipment. It helps protect personnel, equipment, and the environment by relieving pressure and managing gas during normal operations, maintenance, start-ups, shutdowns, and upset conditions. Monitoring helps operators understand flare activity, associated emissions, and abnormal operating patterns.

A flare gas recovery system captures gas that would otherwise be routed to a flare and directs it back into a facility’s fuel, compression, processing, or sales system when conditions allow. The goal is to reduce flaring, recover usable hydrocarbons, and lower emissions. It requires dependable controls, compression, piping, and monitoring to verify operating conditions and identify events that may affect recovery performance.

A flare monitoring system can provide continuous visual, acoustic, equipment-status, and emissions-related awareness, depending on its sensor configuration. Well Checked’s platform combines high-resolution video, long-wave infrared optical gas imaging, and acoustic sensing to identify conditions that warrant review. Following validation, Zentinal IQ™ can support quantification workflows for fugitive methane and vapor emissions, creating more useful operational and compliance records.

AI reduces false alerts by learning a site’s normal operating patterns and comparing incoming sensor observations against that baseline. Zensory.ai™ uses an approximately two-day Site Learning cycle, then combines evidence from video, acoustic, and gas-imaging streams. Zentinal Core™ is designed to filter known non-fugitive process events and escalate true anomalies, helping teams avoid alert fatigue and focus on events requiring action.

Yes. Well Checked offers SCADA integration services that place monitoring alerts, emissions data, and operational insights within existing control-room workflows. Validated event notifications can also be delivered through the Well Checked Dashboard, email, and text. Integration planning should account for the current SCADA architecture, available communications, alarm-management rules, user permissions, and the dispatch process used by the operator’s field teams.

Well Checked supports response workflows designed for operators to acknowledge, dispatch, and mitigate validated events within 24 hours. Designated dispatch teams receive near-real-time notifications through dashboard, email, text, and SCADA channels. The company also provides response-workflow templates, dispatch runbooks, and alert-tuning support. Actual repair timing depends on site access, safety requirements, equipment availability, and the operator’s established incident procedures.

Continuous monitoring can support more complete emissions records than periodic snapshot inspections by documenting event timing, duration, and supporting observations. Well Checked data output supports alternative-monitoring compliance submissions under EPA methane rule 40 CFR Part 60 Subpart OOOOb and is structured for relevant reporting frameworks. Operators remain responsible for determining their applicable regulatory obligations and submitting required documentation to the appropriate agencies.

Well Checked provides monitoring solutions for continental US onshore upstream oil and gas producing regions. Confirmed deployment experience includes a program in the Appalachian Basin. Site evaluation considers flare configuration, equipment layout, power, communications, monitoring objectives, and required integration with existing operations systems.