Released March 08, 2023 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--CapturePoint LLC's (Allen, Texas) recently announced final investment decision to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) operation in Louisiana highlights a continuing trend: The state has become a leader in this field in recent years.
CapturePoint says its Central Louisiana Regional Storage Hub (CENLA Hub) has "the potential to be among the largest onshore, deep-underground carbon-sequestration centers in the United States, with the capacity to permanently secure tens of millions of tons of CO2 annually, up to two miles underground."
It adds, "The first phase of the CENLA Hub project will involve the capture of dedicated CO2 emissions from natural gas-processing facilities owned by affiliates of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) (Dallas, Texas) in northern and central Louisiana, as well as from other industrial sources in the area, for transport by pipeline to deep-underground sequestration in the CENLA Hub."
This joins a growing list of other CCUS projects in Louisiana. Overall, the state has more than 60 such projects in the works. One example: Talos Energy Incorporated (NYSE:TALO) (Houston, Texas) and EnLink Midstream (NYSE:ENLC) (Dallas, Texas) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in February 2022 to develop a CCS facility for the Mississippi River industrial corridor, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. In 2017, the state was listed as No. 4 in CO2 emissions in the U.S., and much of that is centered in the industrial corridor.
Talos had just acquired the River Bend CCS site in east Louisiana, which will be part of this facility. Its area includes about 26,000 acres of space and has a sequestration capacity of more than 500 million metric tonnes.
Shell is also concerned about CO emissions in the Mississippi River industrial corridor. In 2022, Shell announced plans for the Liberty CCUS hub, which would capture emissions from the company's petrochemical plants in the area. But the company says it would be open to taking CO2 from other area emitters in the future.
Why LA?
There are several reasons for the area's popularity, some natural and some human-related. On the human side, southern Louisiana's many refineries and petrochemical plants emit a lot of CO2, making the gas available for sequestration. And the presence of oil and gas fields nearby creates opportunities for reusing depleted wells for CCS.
Recognizing the opportunity, as far back as 2009 the legislature began smoothing the path for CCUS investment and infrastructure. They passed the Louisiana Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act, House Bill 661 that year. It established a state regulatory framework, setting state liability for injected CO2 after 10 years of storage; created a trust fund to manage and monitor such storage; and granted the state power to invoke eminent domain for certain CCS projects. The state has made other moves since then.
Last fall, LSU's Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering announced it would be the first university in the U.S. to offer a formal concentration in CCUS. The school said it took this step because of the state's high concentration of CCUS projects.
On the natural side, there are a lot of places to store CO2. Louisiana is smack in the middle of what the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) identifies as the nation's best CCS area, the Coastal Plains. This area stretches across the Gulf states from Texas to Georgia.
Funding
With all the advantages the area boasts, funding is still needed to make it happen--and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the cash for carbon-capture projects is about to flow. Funding involves two types of projects: carbon-capture large-scale pilots and carbon-capture demonstration.
The former will provide a total of $937 million from the DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) for testing projects that are in the development stage, but as yet untested, and are large enough to "demonstrate the interaction between major components."
For the latter, there will be "$2.5 billion to develop six carbon-capture facilities to significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, costs, emissions reductions, and environmental performance of coal and natural gas use." The DOE is suggesting two projects to capture CO2 from gas-fired power plants: two from coal-fired power plants and from two non-power-generating facilities.
Not Everybody Is Happy
On the other hand, bringing the nation's CO2 into Louisiana's rich natural habitats does not set well with everyone. In 2022, Air Products (NYSE:APD) (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania) announced plans to build a blue hydrogen plant in Ascension Parish. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas feedstock, capturing the hydrogen and sequestering the resulting CO2 underground.
And that is the issue. The CO2's proposed destination would be under Lake Mauripas--a solution that local residents are not happy about. Livingston Parish, in which the lake is located, passed an ordinance against such a project. However, courts overruled the law, saying only the state could regulate CCUS facilities.
Some observers refer to the pushback as simply "NIMBY" (not in my backyard) issues. But there are also many fervent environment activists that believe blue hydrogen, due to its reliance on fossil fuels, is not a green energy solution in any location.
But Governor John Bel Edwards and many legislators are working to move CCUS initiatives forward, no doubt seeing it as a new economic opportunity for workers in the state.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
CapturePoint says its Central Louisiana Regional Storage Hub (CENLA Hub) has "the potential to be among the largest onshore, deep-underground carbon-sequestration centers in the United States, with the capacity to permanently secure tens of millions of tons of CO2 annually, up to two miles underground."
It adds, "The first phase of the CENLA Hub project will involve the capture of dedicated CO2 emissions from natural gas-processing facilities owned by affiliates of Energy Transfer LP (NYSE:ET) (Dallas, Texas) in northern and central Louisiana, as well as from other industrial sources in the area, for transport by pipeline to deep-underground sequestration in the CENLA Hub."
This joins a growing list of other CCUS projects in Louisiana. Overall, the state has more than 60 such projects in the works. One example: Talos Energy Incorporated (NYSE:TALO) (Houston, Texas) and EnLink Midstream (NYSE:ENLC) (Dallas, Texas) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in February 2022 to develop a CCS facility for the Mississippi River industrial corridor, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. In 2017, the state was listed as No. 4 in CO2 emissions in the U.S., and much of that is centered in the industrial corridor.
Talos had just acquired the River Bend CCS site in east Louisiana, which will be part of this facility. Its area includes about 26,000 acres of space and has a sequestration capacity of more than 500 million metric tonnes.
Shell is also concerned about CO emissions in the Mississippi River industrial corridor. In 2022, Shell announced plans for the Liberty CCUS hub, which would capture emissions from the company's petrochemical plants in the area. But the company says it would be open to taking CO2 from other area emitters in the future.
Why LA?
There are several reasons for the area's popularity, some natural and some human-related. On the human side, southern Louisiana's many refineries and petrochemical plants emit a lot of CO2, making the gas available for sequestration. And the presence of oil and gas fields nearby creates opportunities for reusing depleted wells for CCS.
Recognizing the opportunity, as far back as 2009 the legislature began smoothing the path for CCUS investment and infrastructure. They passed the Louisiana Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act, House Bill 661 that year. It established a state regulatory framework, setting state liability for injected CO2 after 10 years of storage; created a trust fund to manage and monitor such storage; and granted the state power to invoke eminent domain for certain CCS projects. The state has made other moves since then.
Last fall, LSU's Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering announced it would be the first university in the U.S. to offer a formal concentration in CCUS. The school said it took this step because of the state's high concentration of CCUS projects.
On the natural side, there are a lot of places to store CO2. Louisiana is smack in the middle of what the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) identifies as the nation's best CCS area, the Coastal Plains. This area stretches across the Gulf states from Texas to Georgia.
Funding
With all the advantages the area boasts, funding is still needed to make it happen--and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the cash for carbon-capture projects is about to flow. Funding involves two types of projects: carbon-capture large-scale pilots and carbon-capture demonstration.
The former will provide a total of $937 million from the DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) for testing projects that are in the development stage, but as yet untested, and are large enough to "demonstrate the interaction between major components."
For the latter, there will be "$2.5 billion to develop six carbon-capture facilities to significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, costs, emissions reductions, and environmental performance of coal and natural gas use." The DOE is suggesting two projects to capture CO2 from gas-fired power plants: two from coal-fired power plants and from two non-power-generating facilities.
Not Everybody Is Happy
On the other hand, bringing the nation's CO2 into Louisiana's rich natural habitats does not set well with everyone. In 2022, Air Products (NYSE:APD) (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania) announced plans to build a blue hydrogen plant in Ascension Parish. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas feedstock, capturing the hydrogen and sequestering the resulting CO2 underground.
And that is the issue. The CO2's proposed destination would be under Lake Mauripas--a solution that local residents are not happy about. Livingston Parish, in which the lake is located, passed an ordinance against such a project. However, courts overruled the law, saying only the state could regulate CCUS facilities.
Some observers refer to the pushback as simply "NIMBY" (not in my backyard) issues. But there are also many fervent environment activists that believe blue hydrogen, due to its reliance on fossil fuels, is not a green energy solution in any location.
But Governor John Bel Edwards and many legislators are working to move CCUS initiatives forward, no doubt seeing it as a new economic opportunity for workers in the state.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
