bp Corp. North America Inc. and Howard Midstream Energy Partners LLC were among the most recent recipients of US Department of Energy (DOE) carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) funding. bp received $33.4 million for a project that will focus on characterization and permitting of two commercial-scale storage sites along the Texas Gulf Coast with a combined capacity of 15 million tonnes/year (tpy). Howard Midstream will use $3 million to study a system capable of moving up to 250 million tpy from multiple sources to multiple storage locations on the Gulf Coast from the Port of Corpus Christi, Tex. to the Mississippi River.
bp and Linde PLC last year partnered to develop a 15-million tpy low-carbon hydrogen and CCS project in Texas, with potential start-up by 2026. Hydrogen would be sold to customers along Linde’s hydrogen pipeline network under long-term contracts, with CCS available to other large industrial sites in the region.
Howard and Talos Energy Inc. last year entered an option agreement with the Port of Corpus Christi Authority to pursue commercial CCS opportunities at the port, the Coastal Bend Carbon Management Partnership. The agreement encompasses about 13,000 acres for CCS project evaluation, with an initial goal to sequester 1.0–1.5 million tpy of CO2 into saline aquifers with an estimated total storage capacity of 50–100 million tonnes.
Based on proof of concept and market demand, the parties could expand the project to regional hub scale, with the ability to sequester 6–10 million tpy of the roughly 20 million tpy of total regional emissions. Howard’s Javelina midstream system is directly connected to more than half of the total regional emissions via 60 miles of existing pipeline, according to the companies.
DOE awarded a total of $251 million to support 12 CCS projects across seven states. DOE also announced the second opening of a 5-year $2.25 billion funding opportunity to provide for continuous development of commercial-scale CCS infrastructure.
Other recipients included Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub LLC, Colorado School of Mines, Magnolia Sequestration Hub LLC, Southern States Energy Board, Timberlands Sequestration LLC, University of Illinois, University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center, University of Wyoming, and Carbon Solutions LLC.