Shearwater GeoServices has been awarded a contract by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to conduct a 3D seismic survey in the Cauvery Basin, off the eastern coast of India.

Scheduled to commence in early 2024, the survey project will span an area of 4,600km² in the Bay of Bengal.

Shearwater GeoServices plans to execute the project using the SW Empress vessel.

Shearwater CEO Irene Waage Basili said: "We look forward to working with ONGC on another project, which underscores our solid relationship and track record in India. It reflects our mutual dedication to advancing exploration with precision and care."

Recently, ONGC signed a cooperation agreement with TotalEnergies to undertake methane emissions detection and measurement campaigns using the latter’s Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) technology.

ONGC chairman and managing director Arun Kumar Singh said: “In line with our collective ambitions as signatories of the OGDC [Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter] 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.”

The AUSEA gas analyser features a dual sensor designed to detect methane and carbon dioxide emissions while pinpointing their origins.

TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “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 became the latest addition to the expanding list of companies partnering with TotalEnergies for utilising AUSEA. This list includes Petrobras in Brazil, SOCAR in Azerbaijan, Sonangol in Angola and NNPCL in Nigeria.