Aerial LDAR · Optical Gas Imaging · Bakken, North Dakota

EPA methane rules just changed.
Your LDAR program should too.

Ghost & Steele flies EPA-certified optical gas imaging (OGI) surveys over your well pads — the entire site scanned from the air, nobody on the ground near live equipment, and a regulator-ready report in your portal within 24–48 hours.

Get a Free LDAR Assessment → Call (406) 616-1611
EPA OOOOa/b/c & Appendix K certified payload NDAA / Blue UAS compliant aircraft Winter-capable — we fly ND in January Based in Watford City
The Problem

Quarterly OGI is now the cost of doing business.

EPA's OOOOb/OOOOc methane rules put multi-well pads on a recurring OGI inspection schedule, with Appendix K protocols and real penalties per ton of methane. Handheld OGI crews walk your pad component by component — slow, expensive to mobilize, and a person standing next to live equipment in H2S country.

THE SLOWER, RISKIER WAY

A crew drives out, walks the pad with a handheld camera, spends hours on-site, and invoices you for the day plus mobilization. In January, they may not come at all.

THE GHOST & STEELE WAY

One aircraft covers the whole pad from the air — tanks, flares, thief hatches, connectors — in a fraction of the time. Findings flagged, documented, and filed to your secure portal. Leaks found are product saved.

PHOTO SLOT — Freefly Astro Max with Ventus OGI payload in flight over a well pad.
Until we have our own: use Freefly's official press/dealer imagery of the Astro Max + Ventus (with permission), captioned "The aircraft and payload we operate."
What You Get

Compliance work, not just pretty thermal video.

🔍 FULL-PAD OGI SCAN

Cooled OGI core on a stabilized gimbal — the same sensing class regulators expect, flown at optimal standoff for detection.

📝 REGULATOR-READY REPORT

Findings, imagery, timestamps, and survey metadata formatted for your EPA recordkeeping — delivered in 24–48 hours.

🗂️ YOUR SECURED PORTAL

Every survey lives in one place. Your whole pad history, trend over time, audit-ready — included free with every package.

💨 LEAKS = MONEY RECOVERED

A caught leak is methane you stop venting — sellable product back in the line and a fine you never pay.

Pricing

Flat quote. No mystery, no mobilization games.

Every operation is different — pad count, spacing, cadence, and what your permit requires. Tell us your pad list and we'll come back with one flat number per survey, in writing, usually within a day. No day rates, no surprise mobilization fees, and volume pricing that rewards a full route.

ONE NUMBER PER SURVEY

Quoted flat per pad, so you can budget the quarter before we ever fly.

VOLUME & ROUTE PRICING

The more pads on the schedule, the better the per-survey rate. Quarterly and monthly cadences both work.

BUNDLED INSPECTION

Add visual and thermal equipment inspection to the same visit — one flight day, one invoice.

Get My Flat Quote →
Why Us

Built by a Bakken hand. Flown where others won't.

Jesse Grayson worked these locations before he flew over them — at −40°, in H2S country, on the pads you run today. National drone outfits won't fly western North Dakota in January. We're based in Watford City, and we will.

The NDAA difference: our aircraft (Skydio X10, Freefly Astro Max) are U.S.-made and Blue UAS listed. Operators, midstream companies, and federal contracts increasingly bar Chinese-made drones — a DJI-based crew legally can't touch that work. We can.
PHOTO SLOT — Jesse in the field (hard hat / FR gear, ND backdrop). This is the single highest-trust image on the page. A phone photo on a real location beats a stock photo every time.
FAQ

The questions operators actually ask

Does aerial OGI satisfy EPA LDAR requirements?

The Ventus OGI payload we operate carries EPA certifications for OOOOa/b/c and Appendix K protocols. We match the survey design to your permit's cadence and documentation requirements, and confirm acceptance with your regulatory contact before the first flight.

What does a survey day look like?

We arrive with pad access already coordinated (ISN/Veriforce documentation on file), fly the site, and you get flagged findings and the compliance report in your portal within 24–48 hours. Nobody on your crew needs to escort a camera around the pad.

Can you actually fly in a North Dakota winter?

Yes — that's the point. Cold, clear winter air is actually excellent for gas imaging. We're local, winter-rated, and don't charge mobilization from three states away.

What about our data security?

U.S.-made aircraft, U.S. data handling, your own locked portal. Your pad data is yours and no one else's.

Put your LDAR program on autopilot.

Two minutes to tell us your pad count. A free assessment call after.

Get My Free LDAR Assessment →

Or call (406) 616-1611 · Jesse@ghostandsteele.com

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