Mumbai: The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) to foster research and development (R&D) in enhanced hydrocarbon recovery and geologic carbon dioxide storage.
The DGH has set up a new department, Hydrocarbon Efficiency and New Energy, that was launched by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Hardeep Singh Puri, at UrjaVarta 2024. “IIT-B is spearheading a large number of initiatives in the petroleum sector, including upstream and downstream, conventional and unconventional through active collaboration with a large number of industries to accelerate the development and deployment of new technologies while also assisting them in meeting their net-zero goals,” said a statement by the institute.
Prof. Vikram Vishal, Convener, DST-National Centre of Excellence in Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay made a brief presentation on the scope of the MoU in carrying out site-specific studies on carbon dioxide storage with or without enhanced oil recovery, new geo-energy resources, building carbon capture and storage (CCS) regulatory frameworks and demonstration of the principles of CCS.
Dr. Pallavi Jain Govil, IAS, Director General, DGH, highlighted the critical need for collaboration to tackle the significant challenges facing the upstream hydrocarbon sector, especially as it undergoes transformation in response to energy transitions and net-zero goals. “I greatly admire the dynamic research environment at IIT Bombay, and I firmly believe that this marks the beginning of an extraordinary collaboration model that will contribute to our efforts on enhancing energy access, efficiency, sustainability, and security,” she said.
Dr. Kaustav Nag, Additional Director General (Exploration) at DGH, emphasised the organisation’s vision of leveraging data and expertise to support the geoscientific community, thereby strengthening efforts towards innovation and growth in the upstream hydrocarbon sector.
Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT-B. echoed the message, and shared his experience of bringing together the Central Public Sector Enterprises under the MoPNG-supported Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas and Energy at IIT Bombay focused on research, technology development and capacity building.
