ONGC joins hands with TotalEnergies to detect and measure Methane emissions

New Delhi: Maharatna oil PSU Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a cooperation agreement with TotalEnergies to carry out methane emissions detection and measurement campaigns using TotalEnergies’ pioneer AUSEA (Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications) technology.

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The Cooperation Agreement has been signed on the occasion of India Energy Week 2024, by Country Chair of TotalEnergies in India Dr Sangkaran Ratnam, and ONGC Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat on Tuesday.

ONGC has been inviting international technology partners to help reduce its methane emissions in India by 2030, while TotalEnergies has decided to share its AUSEA technology in an effort to pivot the whole industry towards zero methane emissions by 2030. Both companies are party to the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), global industry initiative launched at COP28.

ONGC joins a growing list of national companies who have signed cooperation agreements with TotalEnergies for the use of AUSEA including Petrobras in Brazil, SOCAR in Azerbaijan, Sonangol in Angola and NNPCL in Nigeria.

One-of-a-kind technology by TotalEnergies, the AUSEA gas analyzer is mounted on a drone, and was developed by TotalEnergies and its R&D partners. Consisting of a dual sensor capable of detecting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, AUSEA identifies their source at the same time. This technology marks a step change in methane emissions detection and measurement compared to traditional techniques. By allowing access to hard-to-reach emission points, on all types of industrial facilities, both offshore and offshore, AUSEA is reputed as one of the most accurate technologies in the industry.

“Our industry’s priority in the fight against climate change is to slash methane emissions from operations. Aiming for zero methane emissions by 2030 is our collective ambition as signatories of the OGDC at COP28. We are pleased to collaborate and make our AUSEA technology available to ONGC, in India, to detect, measure and eventually reduce methane emissions on their own assets”, said the Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné.

Commenting on the pact, ONGC Chairman & CEO Arun Kumar Singh said “In line with our collective ambitions as signatories of the OGDC at COP28, ONGC is scouting for new technologies to reduce its Methane emissions by 50 percent by 2027 and by 80 percent in 2030 compared to 2020. The introduction of the AUSEA technology will further strengthen our efforts to achieve zero methane emissions by 2038.”

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