LDAR Software

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Updated October 8, 2026

• Key every record to a stable component ID Map P&ID tag numbers to a stable internal component ID with dated tag history, so a drawing revision never detaches a leak history from the physical part.
• Store unknown material and sub-threshold readings An unknown pipe material selects the shortest Annex I interval, and every leak is recorded whatever its size, so neither value may be dropped at import.
• Count the repair clocks from detection, in days Article 14(9) requires a first repair attempt no later than 5 days after detection and completion within 30 days with no working-day qualifier. Under Regulation 1182/71, a period ending on a weekend or public holiday ends on the next working day. Delays need Annex II schedules within 12 days.
• Keep the yearly LDAR report apart from Article 12 reporting The Article 14(14) yearly LDAR submission goes to the competent authorities of each Member State concerned, while a verifier assesses the Article 12 reports that add site-level measurement. Article 12 reports use OGMP 2.0 templates until an implementing act sets a template.
• Put every deadline in a versioned rule table Implementing acts on detection limits and reporting templates were still unpublished as of October 2026, so thresholds, intervals and clocks belong in rule tables with effective dates rather than in code.

Copy takeaways

In short: LDAR software is the system of record for a leak detection and repair program: the component inventory, survey results, leak and repair events, deadlines and reports. For EU oil and gas operators, Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 makes that program mandatory. A workable design keys the inventory to P&ID tag numbers and gives each leak an append-only history from detection through a first repair attempt within 5 days and completion within 30 days to the confirming re-survey. The same records feed the yearly LDAR report and the Article 12 emissions reports.

The clocks, thresholds and frequencies in this guide are those of Regulation (EU) 2024/1787. They do not govern US EPA programs under NSPS OOOOa and OOOOb or the OOOOc emission guidelines, nor Method 21 surveys. What transfers to a US program is the data design: a component-keyed inventory, append-only leak events and rule tables versioned per regime. Detection hardware and liquid pipeline leak detection are separate subjects, and the second is covered in our pipeline leak detection software guide.

Who Does the EU Methane Regulation's LDAR Regime Cover?

The LDAR, venting and flaring rules sit in Chapter 3, Articles 11 to 18, which apply to the first three sectors in Article 1(2). Point (a) covers upstream exploration, production, gathering and processing, point (b) adds inactive and plugged wells and point (c) covers natural gas transmission and distribution, excluding metering systems at final consumption points and the service-line sections on customers' property, plus underground storage and LNG facilities. Those excluded customer-side parts stay out of the component inventory. Coal mines and importers sit in other chapters and are out of scope here.

Two definitions in Article 2 shape the data model. A component, under Article 2(2), "means any part or element of equipment used in oil, natural gas or coal installations or infrastructure, that has the potential to emit methane". A leak detection and repair survey, under Article 2(25), is a "survey to identify and detect sources of methane leaks and other unintentional methane emissions, and to repair or replace the relevant components". The repair is inside the definition, so a tool that stops at detection covers half the regulated activity. Type 1 and type 2 surveys are defined by reference to Article 14 and Annex I, so in data terms a survey type is a leak threshold plus a frequency, with device detection limits to be added once the Article 14(7) implementing act is adopted. Under Article 14(3), a type 2 survey can stand in wherever a type 1 survey is due.

The LDAR Record Set and Where It Breaks

The component is the key, and the natural identifier is the P&ID tag number. Tags change when drawings are revised, so the system needs a stable internal ID with the tag as a dated attribute. Leak events are append-only: detection, repair attempt, delay decision and re-survey are each written once and linked. Photos, instrument files and work orders attach to the event they prove, with a content hash. The failure modes below come from common record-keeping practice, not from the Regulation.

Record	What the Regulation requires it to show	Fields the system must hold	Typical failure mode
Component	Art 2(2), Annex II inventory, Annex I frequency by type, material, pressure and offshore position	Stable ID with P&ID tag history, site and asset, operated or not, type, material, unknown allowed, design pressure, water depth, site derogation state	Tag renamed in a P&ID revision and the leak history detaches from the part
Survey	Art 14(1) program, Annex I frequency, Art 14(6) measurement position, Annex I Part 2 device data	Type 1 or 2, date, components covered, device and detection limits, surveyor and qualification, contractor, program version	Survey logged per site, so next due dates cannot be computed per component
Measurement and leak	Art 14(8) thresholds, Art 14(13) all leaks irrespective of size	Value in ppmv or g/h at standard conditions, threshold version, above or below, detection time, evidence	Sub-threshold readings discarded, so the 3-month re-check never fires
Repair	Art 14(9) 5-day and 30-day clocks, larger leaks first, Annex II repair schedule	Attempt times, outcome, method, deadlines with rule version	Clocks counted in working days or from upload
Delay decision	Art 14(9) reasons (a) to (e) and 12-day notice, Art 14(10) evidence without delay, two further exceptions and approval, Art 14(11) register	Reason code, evidence, notice and evidence times, approval state, shutdown end date, one-year backstop	Free-text reasons that map to none of the five grounds
Re-survey	Art 14(12), Annex II monitoring schedule	Link to original leak, due date, result, success flag	Re-survey logged as a new leak, breaking the chain to closure
Venting or flaring event	Art 15 exceptions, Art 16(1) 48-hour notice, Annex III items	Annex III fields, exception code, start, awareness and end times, notice time	Duration tracked per calendar day rather than per event, missing the 8-hour trigger
Flare inspection	Art 17(3) interval and 6-hour remedy, Annex IV	Device, design efficiency, combustion verdict, visible-emission minutes, remedy time	Rarely used flares inspected on the calendar, not before each use
Report and verifier export	Art 14(14) yearly report, Art 12(4) contents, Art 8(5) access, Art 14(13) retention	Immutable snapshot with rule versions, record export, 10-year retention	Report regenerated from current data and no longer reproducible

Annex II fixes the content of the repair and monitoring schedules, and both open with the same item: "inventory and identification of all components that have been checked". Each value they need can be generated from the records above. That is the practical test: if a schedule needs a hand-typed value, a field is missing.

The LDAR program as a versioned document

Everything hangs off the LDAR program each operator files with its competent authority, which Article 14(1) required by 5 May 2025 for existing sites and within 6 months of start of operations for new ones. It must give a "detailed description of the LDAR surveys and activities, including specific timelines". Article 14(2) fixed the first full survey: "In any event, operators shall carry out the first type 2 LDAR survey by 5 August 2025 for existing sites." New sites have 9 months from start of operations, and a type 2 survey carried out between 3 August 2022 and 4 August 2024 may count as the first, so the system needs to import that survey history. Every survey record should point to the program version in force when it ran.

Contractors run many surveys, and Article 14(15) keeps responsibility in place: "Delegated tasks shall not affect the responsibility of operators and shall not impact the effectiveness of supervision by the competent authorities." Contractor files should be imported into the operator's own records with provider and surveyor identified.

Field capture integrity

A reading is only as good as the proof that it was taken at the right component. The mobile app should confirm the component by scanning its tag label or by device position on the site plan and store how the location was confirmed with the reading. Remote sites may have no mobile coverage, so entry must work offline and sync later, keeping the detection time recorded on the device as the clock start (never the sync time) and resolving sync conflicts by appending rather than overwriting. Each leak above the threshold should open a work order carrying the leak ID, with repair times flowing back from the maintenance system instead of being retyped.

Survey Frequencies and Leak Thresholds by Component

Annex I, Part 1 sets minimum survey frequencies per survey type. Values are summarized from the Official Journal text.

Component group (Annex I, Part 1)	Type 1 interval	Type 2 interval
Compressor stations, underground storage, LNG facilities, regulating and metering stations outside networks	4 months	8 months
Valve stations outside networks	9 months	18 months
Compressor and regulating and metering stations in networks with design pressure above 16 bar	4 months	8 months
Valve stations in networks with design pressure above 16 bar	9 months	18 months
Regulating and metering stations in networks with design pressure at or below 16 bar	No row	9 months
Valve stations in networks with design pressure at or below 16 bar	No row	21 months
Offshore components above the sea level	12 months	24 months
Components below the sea level, offshore	24 months	No row
Components below the seabed, offshore	36 months	No row
All other components	6 months	12 months

Annex I also sets intervals by pipe material, from 3 months for type 1 surveys of gray cast iron to 36 months for type 2 surveys of polyethylene, PVC and protected steel in networks. Material is therefore its own field. Annex I closes the usual gap in asset registers: "Where the type of material cannot be determined, the highest frequency for the respective type of LDAR survey shall be used." Unknown material is a stored value that selects the shortest interval, never an empty field. Annex I adds one approval route of its own: for underground and below-sea-level protected steel pipelines with design pressure above 16 bar, where risk-based preventive pipeline integrity management is mandatory, the competent authority may approve up to 36 months for type 1 and 48 months for type 2 surveys, another asset state that recomputes due dates.

Leak thresholds and detection limits

Article 14(8) sets the repair thresholds, measured at standard temperature and pressure, "for type 1 LDAR surveys: 7 000 parts per million in volume of methane or 17 grams per hour of methane", and for type 2 surveys "500 parts per million in volume of methane or 1 gram per hour of methane for aboveground components and for offshore components above the sea level". Underground and below-sea-level components have their own values. The Article 14(7) implementing act on minimum detection limits and techniques, and on first-step thresholds for underground components, due by 5 August 2025, had not been published by October 2026, so detection limits and those thresholds belong in configuration, not code.

Article 14(5) lets oil and gas producers and processors apply for lower survey frequencies, with competent authority approval. They must show from verified Article 12 measurements over the 5 preceding years that less than 1% of components and subcomponents in each site are leaking and that aggregated leak emissions are below 0.08% of gas volume or 0.015% of oil mass processed or extracted. For components at sites where no leaks were identified, processing locations may then move to type 1 surveys at least every 12 months and type 2 surveys of at least 25% of components every 12 months with all components checked at least every 48 months. Production locations may move to type 1 surveys at least every 36 months and type 2 surveys at least every 60 months. Reaching 1% leaking components or exceeding either emissions share returns the site to the standard frequencies. This Article 14(5) derogation is a site state the software can switch off, recomputing every due date.

How Do the LDAR Repair Clocks Work?

Article 14(9) sets the default, "The repair or replacement of the components referred to in paragraph 8 shall take place immediately after detection.", and the fallback: "If the repair cannot be carried out immediately after detection, it shall be attempted as soon as possible and no later than 5 days after detection and shall be completed within 30 days after detection." Both clocks run from detection and are written as days, with no working-day qualifier, so a system that counts business days or starts when survey data is uploaded overstates compliance. The general EU rules on time limits in Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 add three rules. Weekends and public holidays count toward the period. Under Article 3(4), a period expressed in days, weeks, months or years whose last day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday ends with the following working day. Under Article 3(5), any period of two days or more must include at least two working days. The deadline calculator therefore needs a public-holiday calendar for each Member State. The paragraph also sets queue order: "The operators shall prioritise repairs of larger leaks." A repair queue should sort by measured leak size, preferring a mass rate where one was measured, not by date.

When the operator can show that a first attempt within 5 days would not succeed, or expects that completion within 30 days is not possible for safety, administrative or technical reasons, it notifies the competent authority with evidence and "repair and monitoring schedules containing at least the elements set out in Annex II no later than 12 days from the date of detection". The same paragraph adds: "Those repair and monitoring schedules shall include all the necessary evidence justifying any delay." Admissible reasons form a closed list of five, points (a) to (e): safety, an environmental impact greater than the benefit, accessibility of the component, unavailability of parts and a significant deterioration of the gas supply situation likely to lead to a crisis level. A closed list is a reason-code field, not free text.

Delays, shutdowns and re-surveys

A repair that needs a shutdown, where one of the grounds (a) to (e) of Article 14(9) applies, follows Article 14(10): "operators shall minimise the leak within 24 hours of detection and shall repair the leak by the end of the next scheduled shutdown or within a year, whichever is sooner". The paragraph allows two further exceptions, where an earlier repair would very likely vent significantly more methane than the leak or would threaten security of supply in small connected systems, so the reason-code list needs those two values as well. The operator must also provide the evidence justifying a delay to the competent authority without delay, so that evidence should not be held back until the 12-day outer limit for the notice. Approval is not automatic: "A decision to delay repair due to safety, administrative and technical considerations shall be subject to approval by the competent authorities and shall be included in the repair and monitoring schedules." The delay decision is therefore its own record, with an approval state the competent authority controls and a version history of its schedules.

Closure needs proof. Article 14(12) requires a re-survey "immediately after the repair carried out pursuant to paragraph 9 and no later than 45 days thereafter, to ensure that the repair was successful", and leaks below the threshold are checked again "no later than 3 months from the date on which the emissions were detected". Article 14(13) adds that "operators shall record all identified leaks, irrespective of their size", so sub-threshold readings are stored, never filtered out at import.

Clock	Runs from	Limit	Provision
First repair attempt	Detection	5 days	Art 14(9)
Repair completed	Detection	30 days	Art 14(9)
Delay notice with Annex II schedules	Detection	12 days	Art 14(9)
Evidence for a shutdown delay	Delay decision	Without delay (no fixed hours)	Art 14(10)
Leak minimized when a shutdown is needed	Detection	24 hours	Art 14(10)
Shutdown-dependent repair	Detection	End of the next scheduled shutdown or one year, whichever is sooner	Art 14(10)
Post-repair re-survey	Repair	Immediately, at the latest 45 days	Art 14(12)(a)
Sub-threshold re-check	Detection of the sub-threshold emission	3 months	Art 14(12)(b)

Worked example: one leak through the clocks

Illustration only, with invented dates computed from the clock table above. A type 2 survey finds a leak above the threshold on a compressor valve at 10:00 on Wednesday 18 March 2026, which sets a first repair attempt by 23 March and completion by 17 April. The valve can only be replaced with the unit down and replacing it live would endanger personnel, so ground (a) and Article 14(10) apply and the leak is minimized at 16:00, inside the 24-hour limit. Under Regulation 1182/71 the hour of detection does not count, so that limit ends at 11:00 on 19 March. Because Article 14(10) requires the supporting evidence without delay, the delay notice with that evidence and the Annex II schedules goes in on 18 March citing safety, well inside the 12-day Article 14(9) limit of 30 March. The next scheduled shutdown ends on 22 June 2026, sooner than the one-year backstop of 18 March 2027, so the repair deadline becomes 22 June, while the 17 April date stays flagged at risk until the competent authority approves the delay. The valve is replaced on 22 June and the re-survey, due immediately and at the latest by 6 August, runs on 23 June. It still reads a small emission below the threshold, so the leak stays on record under Article 14(13) and Article 14(12)(b) sets a re-check by 23 September. That re-check runs on 15 September, finds no detectable emission and closes the leak with every event linked to the first reading. No period in this example ends on a Saturday or Sunday, so none rolls forward. A public holiday in the operator's Member State would move a period in days, months or years to the next working day, but not the 24-hour limit, which is expressed in hours, nor the end of a scheduled shutdown, which is a date set by an event rather than a period.

Venting, Flaring and Flare Inspection Records

Article 15(1) reads: "Venting shall be prohibited except in the circumstances provided for in this Article. Routine flaring shall be prohibited." The eleven unavoidable situations in Article 15(3), points (a) to (k), become a justification code with evidence.

Under Article 16(1), an event caused by an emergency or malfunction, or lasting a total of 8 hours or more within a 24-hour period from a single event, is notified, with the notification "made without delay after the event and at the latest within 48 hours from the start of the event or the moment the operator became aware of it". Controlled flaring during shutdowns goes to the annual report instead, and Article 16(2) puts all venting and flaring events into the Article 12 report. Annex III fixes the content of each notification.

Article 17(3) sets the inspection duty, "Operators shall inspect flare stacks or other combustion devices every 15 days", or before each use for devices not used regularly, with an irregularity remedied within 6 hours. With competent authority approval, remote or automated monitoring may replace the regular inspections, and in severe weather or other extreme conditions the 6 hours run from the return to normal conditions. Annex III point (10) describes the "results of inspections to take place once every 2 weeks of flare stacks or other combustion devices", a different wording this guide does not resolve. The interval belongs in a rule-table parameter citing both provisions, so the compliance team or the competent authority can settle it without a code change.

What Goes to the Competent Authority and What Goes to the Verifier?

Two reporting streams draw on the same records. Under Article 14(14), "Every year, operators shall submit all repair and monitoring schedules" with a summary of the previous year's LDAR survey results, sent to the competent authorities of each Member State where the assets are located, so the report is generated per country. Article 14 does not route that report through a verifier.

The second stream is the Article 12 emissions reports. A first source-level report was due on 5 August 2025, fuller source-level reports on 5 February 2026 for operated and 5 February 2027 for non-operated assets, and the reports that add site-level measurement are due from 5 February 2027 for operated assets and 5 August 2028 for non-operated assets, then by 31 May each year, with a verifier's assessment and an Article 8 verification statement. Article 12(6) requires source-level quantification to be compared with site-level measurement, with statistically significant discrepancies reconciled, so both quantifications are stored side by side.

The OGMP 2.0 bridge and verifier access

No implementing act has yet set the reporting template for Article 12 reports. Article 12(4) says: "Until the adoption of the relevant implementing acts, operators and undertakings shall use the technical guidance documents and reporting templates for upstream and mid- and downstream operations, as applicable, of the OGMP 2.0."

The verifier needs the records, not only the report. Article 8(5) obliges operators to assist verifiers, "in particular as regards access to the site and the presentation of documentation or records", and Article 14(13) sets retention: "Operators shall keep the record for at least 10 years and shall provide that information to competent authorities upon their request." A report snapshot that stores its rule versions, plus a record export, lets a submission be reproduced years later. The pattern matches a CBAM annual declaration, another EU report checked against underlying data.

Why Should LDAR Deadlines Live in Versioned Rule Tables?

Per the Commission, "the first-ever EU Regulation on reducing methane emissions in the energy sector (EU/2024/1787) entered into force on 4 August 2024". As of October 2026, two implementing acts this guide depends on had not been published: the Article 14(7) act on detection limits and underground first-step thresholds and the Article 12 reporting-template act. The only corrigendum on record (CELEX 32024R1787R(01), 21 July 2026) corrects the Danish language version, so the English Official Journal text of 15 July 2024 is unchanged.

The detection-limit act can change a parameter that code would otherwise hard-wire and the template act can change a report format, so every clock, threshold and interval lives in a rule table with its source provision and effective date, and every computed deadline stores the rule version that produced it. A published implementing act or an approved derogation becomes a new rule version, not a release.

Dates go in the same table as rules with named parties: Article 15(8), for example, required operators of existing sites to meet the venting and flaring restrictions by 5 February 2026. For sites with fixed sensors, our IoT development guide covers device telemetry, and the component-keyed history pattern also underpins aircraft maintenance records.

Buy, extend or build

These records can live in a commercial LDAR package, in an extension of the EAM or CMMS already in use or in a custom build. The deciding questions are the same for each. Does it take the existing P&ID tag master and tag history as the component key without a second inventory? Can it import the files survey devices and contractors actually produce? Does it version rule tables with effective dates? Can it export every record behind a reported figure for the verifier? Can it add a site or a Member State with different fields without a new project? As a rule of thumb, a package fits when most answers are yes, an EAM or CMMS extension when the tag master and work orders already live there and a custom build when several answers are no.

How Pharos Production Helps

Pharos Production builds software for oil and gas and energy companies through its oil and gas software development and energy software development practices, and can build an LDAR system of record on an operator's own asset data: a P&ID-keyed component inventory, rule-table deadlines and a verifier export, connected to existing maintenance systems.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 of 13 June 2024 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector, EUR-Lex. European Commission, Methane emissions. Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0. Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates and time limits, EUR-Lex. Status of implementing acts and corrigenda checked in October 2026. Engineering guidance, not legal advice.

FAQ

Last updated: October 8, 2026

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• Can fixed sensors or other continuous detection replace periodic LDAR surveys?

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  No. Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 sets minimum survey frequencies in Annex I. Article 14(4) allows advanced detection technologies only as part of the LDAR surveys and only where the competent authority approves them in the LDAR program, they measure at the level of each individual potential emission source and they meet the Article 14(7) and 14(8) requirements and Annex I Part 2.

  Approved technologies can carry out the surveys, but the Annex I minimum frequencies, the Article 14(8) thresholds and the repair clocks still apply, so sensor readings feed the same survey and leak records rather than replacing the schedule.

• Can an operator outsource LDAR surveys to a service provider?

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  Yes, with responsibility staying with the operator under Article 14(15). Article 14(16) requires Member States to make certification, accreditation or equivalent qualification schemes, including suitable training programs, available to LDAR service providers and operators, so the provider's scheme and the surveyor's qualification belong on each survey record.

• Do the LDAR rules apply to deep-water offshore components?

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  By default they do, with survey intervals that depend on whether a component is above the sea level, below it or below the seabed. Under Article 14(17), a competent authority may exempt offshore oil and gas components at a water depth greater than 700 meters if the operator provides robust evidence that the climate impact of potential methane emissions from them is highly likely to be negligible.

  Water depth is worth storing on the component record for that reason.

• Can a site with a low leak rate be surveyed less often?

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  Yes, with competent authority approval under Article 14(5). Oil and gas producers and processors must show from verified Article 12 measurements over the 5 preceding years that less than 1% of components and subcomponents in each site are leaking and that aggregated leak emissions are below 0.08% of gas volume or 0.015% of oil mass processed or extracted.

  For components at sites where no leaks were identified, processing locations may then move to type 1 surveys at least every 12 months and type 2 surveys of at least 25% of components every 12 months with all components checked at least every 48 months. Production locations may move to type 1 surveys at least every 36 months and type 2 surveys at least every 60 months. Reaching 1% leaking components or exceeding either emissions share returns the site to the standard frequencies.

• What penalties apply to missed LDAR repairs?

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  Article 33(5)(e) lists failure to repair or replace components, to continuously survey components and to record leaks in accordance with Article 14(8) to (13) among the infringements that must be subject to penalties, and each Member State sets the penalty rules, including fines, under Article 33(1). The administrative fine ceiling of 20% of annual turnover for legal persons in Article 33(2) applies only to the provisions that paragraph lists, which include the Article 14(14) yearly LDAR report and the Article 12 emissions reports but not the repair duties in Article 14(8) to (13).

• How do OGMP 2.0 reporting levels relate to LDAR data?

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  OGMP 2.0 defines five reporting levels. Level 4 is source-level reporting with specific emission factors, and level 5 adds site-level measurement reconciled against the source-level figures.

  LDAR survey measurements stored per component and site are one input to source-level quantification.

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