TotalEnergies, ONGC partner to detect and measure methane emissions in India

TotalEnergies will use its AUSEA (Airborne Ultra light Spectrometer for Environmental Applications) technology in the operations.

The cooperation agreement was signed by Dr. Sangkaran Ratnam, country chair of TotalEnergies in India and Sushma Rawat, Director (Exploration) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on behalf of ONGC.

“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,” according to a press release.

Both companies are party 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, the release said.

How AUSEA technology works

Mounted on a drone, the AUSEA gas analyzer, developed by TotalEnergies and its R&D partners, consists of a dual sensor capable of detecting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, while at the same time identifying their source.

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, according to the press release.

TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said, “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.”

ONGC Chairman and Managing Director 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% in 2030 compared to 2020. The introduction of the AUSEA technology will further strengthen our efforts to achieve zero methane emissions by 2038.”