Highlights:
- Chevron expands its 312,000-sq-ft ENGINE hub in Bengaluru.
- Company to invest $1 billion over the next few years.
- More than 1,000 professionals hired since 2024.
- Expansion supports Chevron’s $3 billion cost-cut goal by 2026.
- Focus on AI-driven innovation, real-time geological modeling, and digital twins.
Chevron India has opened a new 312,000 square-foot facility for its Engineering and Innovation Excellence Centre (ENGINE) in Bengaluru, making a major step in expanding its digital and artificial intelligence operations.
The move comes a year after launching the unit to consolidate technical work and deepen the company's innovation capabilities. The expansion highlights India's growing role in the global energy transition as technology and digital solutions become central to cutting costs and boosting efficiency. The US oil major is targeting up to $3 billion in cost reductions by 2026 as part of its global restructuring plan.
“We were a very decentralized organization until recently,” said Akshay Sahni, country head for Chevron India. “We use AI to improve the performance of our machines. We use AI to improve the way we drill for oil and gas … It’s not so much about headcount reduction,” he told Reuters.
The timing of the project follows Chevron's recent announcement to cut 15 per cent to 20 per cent of its global workforce, suggesting a growing shift toward India's strong base of engineering and technology talent.
Sahni emphasized India's unmatched pool of STEM and IT professionals. “There are not too many places around the world where you can hire across disciplines—mechanical, civil, petroleum, geology, and electrical,” he said.
The Bengaluru centre has already hired more than 1,000 professionals since 2024 and plans to invest about $1 billion over the next few years in people, infrastructure, and advanced technology. It features high-performance computing systems for real-time geological modeling and digital twins of Chevron's processing plants.
Sahni said the focus will remain on expanding the India hub rather than opening new ENGINE centers elsewhere. “For now, our focus is primarily to grow our Bengaluru center—upskilling our people as technology evolves and getting more of the workflows that are meaningful,” he added.
