Shell and ONGC to evaluate carbon capture, utilisation and storage potential in India

UK-headquartered energy giant Shell has joined forces with the Indian government-owned company Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to pursue carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) opportunities in India, which will help the country to curb its emissions.

ONGC announced last week that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Shell to cooperate in CCUS studies, focusing on joint CO2 storage study and EOR screening assessment for “key basins” in India, including depleted oil and gas fields and saline aquifers.

According to the Indian giant, the MoU was signed by ONGC CMD, R K Srivastava, and Chairman of Shell Group in India, Nitin Prasad, in the presence of senior executives from both companies. This MoU was exchanged in the presence of the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Pankaj Jain.

The two players inked this deal with the aim of developing CCUS/CCS as an emissions mitigation tool for combating climate change and injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) for geological storage as well as enhanced oil production from ONGC’s mature fields.

This comes months after ONGC entered into an agreement with ExxonMobil for hydrocarbon exploration in deep waters offshore India to strengthen its energy security.

In addition, ONGC teamed up with Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor earlier this year to participate in several energy projects.