India's oil and gas sector spans upstream production (ONGC, Oil India, Cairn/Vedanta), midstream gas processing and transport (GAIL, Gujarat Gas, IGL), downstream refining (IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, MRPL, CPCL), and petrochemicals (Reliance, ONGC Petro Additions, GAIL). The sector's CO₂ emissions come from multiple sources: refinery process furnaces and heaters (fuel combustion), steam methane reforming for hydrogen production, natural gas processing CO₂ removal, gas flaring, and fugitive methane emissions from production operations.
The sector's CCUS opportunity is defined by three specific high-priority applications: blue hydrogen from refinery SMR + CCS (India's refineries consume 3.5 MT/year of unabated fossil hydrogen); CO₂-EOR in ONGC's mature onshore fields (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam); and CO₂ removal from high-CO₂ natural gas fields (analogous to Gorgon's natural gas processing CCS in Australia).
Annual hydrogen demand from India's 23 refineries — all from unabated SMR today
ONGC mature onshore fields assessed by NCM for CO₂-EOR viability
Oil refineries in India — all CCUS candidates for blue hydrogen and Scope 1 reduction
India's coastline with offshore basin CO₂ storage co-located with coastal refineries
Refinery blue hydrogen from SMR + CCS is the largest near-term CCUS opportunity in India's oil and gas sector. India's 23 refineries collectively consume 3.5 MT/year of hydrogen from unabated natural gas SMR — each representing a discrete CCS retrofit opportunity. NCM has assessed three priority refinery SMR CCS projects: IOCL Panipat (adjacent to NFL urea plant and Vindhyan saline aquifer storage), HPCL Vizag (KG offshore storage), and BPCL Mumbai (Mumbai High CO₂-EOR integration).
CO₂-EOR in ONGC's mature Gujarat and Rajasthan fields combines permanent CO₂ storage with incremental oil revenue — the only CCUS application where project economics can be positive without carbon credit revenue at oil prices above USD 65/barrel. NCM's Gujarat CO₂-EOR cluster concept aggregates CO₂ from Hazira-Bharuch industrial sources to supply ONGC's Ankleshwar and Gandhar EOR operations.
ONGC's decision on CO₂-EOR is potentially the single most impactful CCUS FID in India's near-term pipeline — because it combines the largest CO₂ storage opportunity (depleted reservoir storage in Gujarat) with the largest oil revenue upside (incremental production from mature fields) and the clearest commercial structure (CO₂ supply from adjacent industrial sources). NCM has completed a pre-feasibility assessment for the Ankleshwar-Gandhar CO₂-EOR complex that shows positive NPV at USD 65+ oil price and USD 25/tonne CO₂ supply cost — achievable from GNFC and GSPC industrial sources within pipeline range.
India's refinery sector CCUS opportunity is partly driven by IEA and international investor pressure on NOC Scope 1 emissions reporting. ONGC, IOCL, HPCL, and BPCL all have large international institutional shareholders who are applying progressive pressure through ESG engagement frameworks. CCS-based Scope 1 reduction provides the only credible pathway for substantial near-term reduction in refinery emissions — making CCUS a strategic necessity for these companies' capital market access, quite apart from the carbon credit or regulatory value.
NCM's oil and gas sector advisory integrates reservoir engineering, capture technology, and commercial structuring across three application areas: refinery SMR + CCS (blue hydrogen), CO₂-EOR (enhanced oil recovery with permanent storage), and gas processing CCS. For each application, we deliver a site-specific techno-economic assessment, storage pathway identification, regulatory navigation plan, and DFI financing structure.
NCM's CO₂-EOR advisory is particularly differentiated — integrating compositional reservoir simulation calibrated against Permian Basin and Weyburn reference data with CO₂ supply chain engineering and carbon credit MVR design. The integrated approach ensures that EOR production forecasts, CO₂ supply agreements, and carbon credit structures are mutually consistent — a prerequisite for project financing.
Whether you are a government body seeking policy advice, an industrial company facing CBAM exposure, or an investor seeking CCUS project opportunities — our team is ready to engage.