Carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Houston area has wide industry support after 11 operators agreed to fully support the joint initiative. The companies that agreed on the matter are Calpine, Chevron; also, Dow, ExxonMobil, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66, and Valero Energy.
According to Exxon’s statement, the companies have begun to discuss a pathway that could lead to capturing and safely storing up to 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and about 100 million metric tons by 2040.
As we previously discussed, the Houston area has a trillion-dollar opportunity in the deployment of CCS technologies. Still, Goldman Sachs, says that, in fact, the opportunity in the area is $12 trillion dollars.
Consequently, the 11 operations mentioned above are considering using CCS technology at their facilities. The adoption of CCUS would cover various industries and activities, such as electricity generation, manufacture, motors fuels production, and packaging.
Moreover, these 11 companies have a substantial environmental impact. When combined, they operate nearly 75 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Consequently, achieving such a carbon capture scale would be a milestone for the U.S. industrial sector as a whole.
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Carbon capture still has challenges ahead
In fact, there are already discussions with other companies that have industrial operations in the area to add even more CO2 capture capacity. They could announce their support at a later date. Such a thing would add further momentum toward the city of Houston’s ambitions to be carbon neutral by 2050.
However, there are still challenges ahead. To achieve such a scale, more than companies’ agreements are needed. It will also require appropriate policies and regulations. Nonetheless, if successfully implemented, the whole CCS plan for the Houston area could generate tens of thousands of new jobs, protect current jobs and reduce emissions at a lower cost to society than many other widely available technologies.
Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, said about the matter. “We’re reimagining what it means to be the energy capital of the world, and applying proven technology to reduce emissions is one of the best ways to get started.”
Finally, he remarked. “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.”
