Top eleven energy companies have supported the development of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub located in Houston. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Calpine, Dow, INEOS, NRG Energy, Phillips 66, Valero, Linde, LyondellBasell, and Marathon Petroleum are among the companies that have expressed interest in the major carbon capture project.
Houston’s hub was proposed by ExxonMobil back in April. The company put forward the proposal for a $100 billion carbon capture joint venture between public and private entities for the extraction of CO2 emissions from the US petrochemical industry along the Houston Ship Channel.
The emissions captured from those facilities will be stored deep under the sea, tens of miles off the Gulf Coast. The planned CO2 storage capacity is up to 50 million tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and around 100 million tons by 2040.
According to the US Department of Energy, the storage capacity along the US Gulf Coast is enough to hold 500 billion tons of CO2. That number is the equivalent of the country’s industrial and power generation emissions for more than 130 years.
Other companies that have industrial operations in the area are also in the process of discussions to take part in the project and add more CO2 capture and storage capacity. Further announcements are expected at a later date. The companies Calpine, Ineos, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy and Valero also said they could announce their participation at some point in the future.
“Houston can achieve our net zero goals by working together, and it’s exciting to see so many companies have already come together to talk about making Houston the world leader in carbon capture and storage,” said Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston.
The proposed Houston carbon capture investment is a major milestone for the commercial deployment of the technology. Economies of scale for CCS could be achieved and companies can find it easier to decarbonize their operations.
