Operational Satellite Intelligence

We turn satellite data into operational decisions for crude oil infrastructure security.

Multi-sensor monitoring for pipeline theft, vandalism, illegal refining, and oil spills. Built for the operators, militaries, and regulators who actually have to respond — not just observe.

See PipelineWatch live → How it works
The Gap

Data exists. Decisions don't.

The Niger Delta has been the most-monitored crude oil theft region in the world for two decades. Satellite imagery, public databases, journalistic exposés — none of it has translated into the operational layer the Nigerian Navy, terminal operators, and federal regulators actually use to respond.

In any given quarter, satellite-detected oil slicks number in the thousands. Pipeline incidents are reported weekly. Illegal artisanal refineries burn around the clock across mangrove creek networks too remote for ground patrols.

Public awareness tools exist and serve their purpose. What's missing is the corridor-specific, multi-sensor, near-real-time intelligence layer that tells an operator where to send a patrol boat, which pipeline segment just had a new theft pit appear, and which refinery clusters are active right now.

That gap widens every quarter as ownership of Niger Delta assets transitions from international majors with ESG infrastructure to local operators without it.

4,786
Oil slicks detected in the Gulf of Guinea, Jan–May 2026 (public SAR data)
$1.3B
Sale price of Shell SPDC's Niger Delta onshore assets to Renaissance Africa Energy, 2024
11
Major Nigerian pipeline corridors and export terminals under our current monitoring
What We Built

PipelineWatch — multi-sensor monitoring across the Niger Delta.

An operational dashboard built for response, not advocacy. Coverage spans the regional Niger Delta view, six major pipeline corridors, and four export terminal clusters — each with its own calibrated baseline and near-real-time alert layer.

11 Nigerian AOIs

Niger Delta regional overview, six pipeline corridors (TNP, NCTL, Trans Forcados, Trans Escravos, Trans Ramos, Qua Iboe), and four export terminal clusters.

4-Sensor Fusion

Sentinel-1 SAR, VIIRS thermal, TROPOMI SO₂, and Sentinel-2 NDVI combined through a calibrated ML classifier for high-confidence detection.

6-Hour Refresh

Near-real-time alert pipeline runs every six hours on high-priority corridors. Cached historical baselines support rapid anomaly detection.

Validated Methodology

Independent technical review by collaborating satellite analytics firms. US validation deployments across Indiana, Louisiana, and the BP Whiting Refinery demonstrate methodology portability.

Live Product

What it actually looks like.

Two views from this week's production runs. The regional dashboard shows multi-sensor metrics at scale. The corridor drilldown shows the same methodology applied to a single pipeline — locating specific candidate combustion sites.

PipelineWatch dashboard showing the Niger Delta regional view with multi-sensor metrics including 6 co-located thermal and SO2 sites

Regional view

Niger Delta, May 2026. The "Co-located sites: 6" tile is the multi-sensor convergence — six locations this week where VIIRS thermal hotspots and TROPOMI SO₂ plumes co-located. The high-confidence subset within a 1,300+ hotspot baseline.

PipelineWatch Trans Niger Pipeline corridor showing 13 DBSCAN-clustered candidate combustion sites labeled C0 through C12

Corridor drilldown

Trans Niger Pipeline corridor — 69 persistent thermal radiance hotspots grouped into 13 candidate combustion sites via DBSCAN spatial clustering. Each labeled site is a specific lat/lon a patrol could be dispatched to.

How It Works

Four sensors. One operational picture.

No single satellite sensor produces reliable crude oil theft alerts on its own. Each has gaps the others fill — clouds defeat optical imagery, thermal detects only active heat, SO₂ requires UV penetration. The trustworthy signal is where multiple sensors agree.

Sentinel-1 SAR
Cloud-penetrating radar
Detects oil slicks on water, surface change along pipeline corridors, and new excavation pits — even through tropical cloud cover.
VIIRS / FIRMS
Day-night thermal
Identifies active fires from artisanal refining and pipeline burning at 375m resolution, twice daily across the full region.
TROPOMI SO₂
Atmospheric chemistry
Captures sulfur dioxide plumes from crude burning, layered onto thermal hotspots for dual-signature confirmation.
Sentinel-2 MSI
Vegetation health
NDVI and NDWI track mangrove die-off, contamination spread, and the visual aftermath of oil spills along the creek network.
Built For

The operators and agencies who have to respond.

Our customers don't read satellite imagery for awareness. They read it to decide where to dispatch resources tomorrow morning.

Naval and security forces

Corridor-specific patrol intelligence for maritime and creek security operations. Risk-tiered alerts replace open-ended ocean surveillance.

Oil and gas operators

Asset-protection intelligence for pipeline segments, export terminals, and offshore loading buoys. Catch theft incidents within hours, not weeks.

Regulators and ministries

Independent verification of operator-reported incidents. Cross-correlated multi-sensor evidence for compliance and enforcement.

Insurers and underwriters

Continuous risk assessment for energy infrastructure portfolios. Empirical loss-event detection across the full corridor.

Get In Touch

Working with us.

We are early stage and selective about who we engage with. If you operate, regulate, secure, or insure crude oil infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, we'd like to hear from you.

founder@lillieearthintelligence.com →