Denbury Inc. (NYSE:DEN) is an oil and gas producer, differentiated from other oil companies with its focus on carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) for enhanced oil recovery. The company released its latest Q2 results on August 5th and devoted over 70% of its earnings call to CCUS.
Denbury already owns a significant CO2 storage infrastructure and is in an ideal position to kickstart the US carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, along with other coming players. The company owns 1150 miles of the total of roughly 5000 miles of CO2 pipelines in the US.
Formerly known as Denbury Resources Inc, it went into bankruptcy late last year due to the low oil prices. However, it re-emerged, and now with oil prices back in the green territory, Denbury has next to nothing in debt, with a stock price that skyrocketed from $17 per share post-bankruptcy to $68.81 today and a $3.7 billion market cap.
Denbury Inc Future Carbon Capture Ambitions
The CEO of Denbury Christian Kendall shared recently on “Mad Money” that the CO2 infrastructure the company has built over the years in the Gulf Coast industrial corridor is an opportunity to exploit carbon capture on the Gulf Coast and beyond. He also said that Denbury aims to “punch above our weight” to make carbon capture “as big as it possibly can be for vendoring”.
According to the CEO, the carbon capture industry is second only to wind and solar and could have a big impact on climate change mitigation. Denbury has been able to capture and store one million tons of carbon dioxide deep underground so far.
He also claims that one of the best things regarding CCS is that it’s available today and doesn’t require a technological leap to scale.
Denbury’s experience and optimism in the carbon capture sector is certainly a pointer to where oil companies are starting to look at in terms of emissions reduction and increasing value for shareholders. The risk factors regarding the technology are not outweighing the benefits for the time being, regarding the short-term elimination of CO2 emissions thanks to capturing and storing carbon from industrial facilities.
