ONGC signs agreement with TotalEnergies to detect, measure methane emissions

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 to pivot the whole industry towards zero methane emissions by 2030.

Both companies are parties to the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), a 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 onshore, AUSEA is reputed to be 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," said the Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne.

"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 Pouyanne.

Commenting on the pact, ONGC Chairman and 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 % by 2027 and by 80 per cent in 2030 compared to 2020. The introduction of the AUSEA technology will further strengthen our efforts to achieve zero methane emissions by 2038."

After halving its methane emissions from its operated sites between 2010 and 2020, TotalEnergies set ambitious targets to step up its efforts and reduce methane emissions by a further 50 per cent by 2025 - with the ambition to reach this target a year early, in 2024 - and by 80 per cent in 2030, compared to 2020.

TotalEnergies, is present in India since 1993 and has a growing footprint in the country. (ANI)