Norwegian energy company Equinor has acquired a minority stake in one of the largest U.S. carbon capture and storage projects located along the Gulf Coast in Texas.
Chevron’s Bayou Bend CCS project is set to become one of the largest CCS solutions for industrial emitters in the United States, with almost 140,000 gross acres of pore space for permanent CO2 sequestration and gross potential storage resources of over one billion metric tons. The Bayou Bend’s total acreage comprises nearly 100,000 gross acres onshore in Chambers and Jefferson Counties, Texas, and about 40,000 gross acres offshore Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas.
Chevron is the operator with 50 percent interest, with Talos Energy and Equinor each holding 25 percent interest.
“Commercial CCS solutions are critical for hard-to-abate industries to meet their climate ambitions while maintaining their activity,” said Grete Tveit, Equinor’s senior vice president for Low Carbon Solutions. “Entering Bayou Bend strengthens our low carbon solutions portfolio and supports our ambition to mature and develop 15-30 million tonnes of equity CO2 transport and storage capacity per year by 2035. Our experience from developing carbon storage projects can help advance decarbonization efforts in one of the largest industrial corridors in the US.”
The project’s location near major industrial corridors in the Houston Ship Channel and Beaumont/Port Arthur area offers a potential decarbonization option for industries like refining, cement, steel, chemicals, and manufacturing. Industrial emissions in the Texas Gulf Coast region are estimated to be around 100 million metric tons of CO2 per year.
Bayou Bend marks Equinor’s first announced low carbon solutions project on the U.S. Gulf Coast.