ONGC wins unique “International Partner of the Year” Award from US Environment Protection Agency

‘International Partner of the Year Award’ is one of the most prestigious awards in the oil and gas upstream sector instituted by the United States Environment Protection Agency (US EPA) under its ‘Natural Gas STAR Programme’. The award is traditionally given to an organisation in recognition of its commendable jobs towards the M2M programme and mitigation of fugitive emission. The rigour of the selection process can be gauged from the fact that only three other organisations have so far been selected for this award since its inception in 1997. And ONGC is the first non-North American oil and gas company to have been selected for this prestigious award.

The award was received by ONGC Team led by Mr. A B Chakraborty, Head Carbon Management Group on November 2, 2010 during the 17th Annual Natural Gas STAR Implementation Workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana USA.

The M2M programme, rechristened as Global Methane Initiative (GMI), is a voluntary international initiative of the US EPA whereby fugitive Natural Gas (due to leakages and flash losses) is detected, measured, arrested and brought to the normal usage. While improving the production bottom line, M2M helps mitigate emission of Methane– a Green House Gas having much worse global warming effect than Carbon dioxide.

The initiative is getting stronger by the year and now boasts the participation of 32 nations and around 400 organizations. ONGC signed an MoU with the US EPA on August 7, 2007 under the Natural gas STAR International programme to undertake M2M projects in its various production and processing installations.

Commenting on this exclusive achievement, ONGC CMD Mr. R S Sharma said, “While we remain firmly focused on our task of ensuring India’s energy security, we have not lost sight of the global as well as local challenges emanating from sustainability issues. M2M is one of our significant initiatives towards attaining carbon neutrality while pursuing sustainable growth.”Mr. Sharma complimented the Carbon Management Group of ONGC for winning this unique and prestigious Award.