NextDecade Corporation and Occidental subsidiary Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV) announced on March 25th they have executed a term sheet about a new carbon capture project. They agreed OLCV will do the permanent geologic storage of the CO2 captured from NextDecade’s planned Rio Grande LNG project in the Port of Brownsville, Texas. The project is expected to capture and permanently store geologically more than five million tonnes of CO2 per year.
NextDecade has recently announced the formation of a whole new subsidiary called NEXT Carbon Solutions. It will be responsible for the development of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Rio Grande LNG.
Rio Grande LNG Carbon Capture And Storage Project
Rio Grande LNG is a project for liquified natural gas export. It is considered to be the greenest LNG project in the world with the use of CCS and Next Carbon Solutions’ proprietary processes. It fits with NextDecade’s plans to link the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford shale natural gas to the global LNG market and thus enable the international supply of low-carbon natural gas.
NextDecade’s Chairman and CEO Matt Schatzman has said regarding the deal: “OLCV’s expertise and reliability complement the transformative and impactful contributions our NEXT Carbon Solutions business is making to the global energy industry, and in particular the proprietary processes we are advancing to lower the cost of utilizing CCS technology.”
Richard Jackson, Occidental’s President of Operations, U.S. Onshore Resources and Carbon Management added: “We are excited to partner with NextDecade to enable the supply of low-carbon natural gas to international markets. Signing this agreement is an important milestone in scaling up OLCV’s pure sequestration business and providing services to help others achieve their net zero goals.”
He also mentioned that the Rio Grande LNG facility is one of many sequestration hubs that OLCV plans to work on in the US and internationally. The subsidiary produces low-carbon fuels and products and offers sequestration services to carbon capture projects globally.
The final investment decision (FID) on NEXT Carbon Solutions’ carbon capture and storage project is expected to come soon after FID at Rio Grande LNG.
There are significant benefits associated with the development of the Rio Grande LNG project in terms of carbon emissions management. Deemed to be the greenest project sourcing natural gas in the world, it also provides thousands of new jobs in Texas. It poses a great example for similar projects to achieve low carbon emissions impact.
