ONGC CCUS Pilot: carbon dioxide to be stored in depleted Gandhar oilfield

India’s state-owned energy major Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is set to launch its first full-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) pilot project by storing carbon dioxide in depleted wells at the Gandhar oilfield in Gujarat. ONGC says that this would mark a significant milestone in decarbonisation roadmap of ONGC.

Under the pilot, ONGC will repurpose two abandoned onshore wells to inject around 100 tonnes of captured carbon dioxide per day into subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs. The carbon dioxide will be sourced from nearby industrial units in the Dahej region as well as ONGC’s own Hazira plant, transported to the Gandhar field and injected underground to prevent its release into the atmosphere.

ONGC has committed $12 billion towards carbon capture and energy transition projects, aiming to achieve net-zero emissions across its Scope 1 and Scope 2 operations by 2038.

As per reports, the project will also evaluate the use of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), potentially boosting residual production while utilising a greenhouse gas productively.

ONGC has earlier experimented with carbon dioxide injection by sourcing gas from Indian Oil Corporation’s Koyali refinery, about 80 km away. However, the Gandhar initiative represents its first integrated CCS pilot with dedicated capture, transport and storage components.

NITI Aayog says that India is currently the world’s third-largest carbon dioxide emitter after China and the US, with annual emissions estimated at around 2.6 gigatonnes. The country has committed to cutting emissions intensity and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, making technologies like Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) increasingly critical, especially for hard-to-abate industrial sectors.

ONGC plans to appoint a specialised CCUS consultant to provide technical advisory, regulatory support and detailed feasibility studies to ensure safe and effective implementation. Depleted reservoirs such as Gandhar are considered geologically suitable for long-term CO₂ storage and allow the use of existing oil and gas infrastructure.

The CCUS pilot is expected to demonstrate scalability and support integrated decarbonisation efforts, including enhanced oil recovery and future blue hydrogen production. In December 2022, ONGC signed an MoU with Shell to collaborate on CCUS studies. Shell is expected to be involved in the pilot at a later stage.