ExxonMobil Corp. has received Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) approval for its 5-million tonne/year (tpy) Rose carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Jefferson County, Tex. The company also began CCS operations at Nucor Corp.’s direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Convent, La.

The RRC approved ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions Onshore Storage LLC’s Class VI underground injection control permit for Rose in a 2-1 vote. The permit covers three CO₂ injection wells over a 13-year injection period. The Rose site is designed for cumulative storage of about 53 million tonnes of CO₂ over the 13-year injection period, according to RRC documents.

The proposed Rose storage site is about 15 miles southwest of Beaumont, Tex. ExxonMobil plans to inject CO₂ into the Fleming and Upper Frio formations at depths of 3,400-7,500 ft. The company’s application calls for monitoring during injection and for 50 years after injection.

ExxonMobil describes Rose as the first Class VI storage site in its Gulf Coast CCS system. The project is designed to receive CO₂ from multiple industrial emitters, with captured CO₂ transported by and 18-mile pipeline. The company says the project will use three storage wells and associated monitoring wells on more than 13,000 acres in Jefferson County.

The RRC's decision followed a regulatory process that included a draft permit issued in 2025 and public proceedings. Commissioner Wayne Christian voted against the permit, saying he remained unconvinced that the record established the project's long-term safety. Commissioners Christi Craddick and Jim Wright voted in favor.

ExxonMobil also announced that it has begun capturing, transporting, and storing CO₂ from Nucor’s DRI plant at Convent. The project is designed to handle as much as 800,000 tpy of CO₂ and, according to ExxonMobil, will produce the lowest-carbon DRI at scale in North America.

The Nucor project is ExxonMobil’s third operational CCS project serving a third-party customer and its second startup in 2026, the company said.