ExxonMobil eyes 2025 start date for first U.S. Gulf Coast carbon capture project

(Bloomberg) – Exxon Mobil Corp. is on track to start up its first U.S. Gulf Coast carbon capture project next year if it can gain regulatory approval to drills wells that would store emissions underground.

The oil major plans to take as much as 2 million tons of CO₂ emissions from CF Industries Holdings Inc.’s ammonia plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and pump them into permanent storage in rock formations deep below the ground.

But the injection wells still need to be approved by state regulators, Dan Ammann, president of Exxon’s division for low carbon solutions, said in presentation at a Barclays Plc’s Energy-Power conference in New York. The Environmental Protection Agency granted Louisiana the authority to approve such wells late last year.

“The primary thing that needs to fall into place for that project to successfully start up in the first part of next year is the Class 6 permit for the storage wells for that project,” Ammann said. “But on the basis that comes into place, then we should be starting that project up on time.”

It would be the first step in Exxon’s ambitious goal to build a Gulf Coast hub that would capture as much as 100 million tons of emissions from the region’s refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities.

The oil producer sees carbon capture as key to reducing emissions while also retaining the benefits of fossil fuels, but the process is still in its infancy despite many years of study.

“You’ve seen a lot of press releases — you haven’t seen that many final investment decisions,” Ammann said. “That’s because these projects are very challenging to pull together.”