The physico-chemical features of short contact time catalytic partial oxidation (SCT-CPO) of methane to produce synthesis gas have been examined with experimental and theoretical modelling activities. The experiments have been performed in a fixed bed reactor equipped with IR thermography and thermocouples for a detailed temperature mapping of the solid and of the gas phases. The theoretical analysis has been developed considering a diffusion-reaction system where transport phenomena and chemical kinetics have been coupled and it has been demonstrated that in the reaction system, a transfer controlled operating regime is established where the oxygen transport from the bulk gas phase to the catalyst is the rate limiting step and where local temperature differences are originated between the solid phase surface and the gas phase.