During an onsite tour, ExxonMobil leaders emphasized plans to build a hydrogen production plant and carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its integrated refining and petrochemicals site in Baytown, Texas.
The CCS project associated with the hydrogen production would be one of the world’s largest, with capacity to store up to 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year, according to the ExxonMobil team.
“The CCS project would mark our initial contribution to the broader, cross-industry effort in the Houston region to capture 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and 100 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2040,” said Dan Ammann, president, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.
The plant would be ExxonMobil’s first blue hydrogen plant in the world, and would produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen daily.
“It’s an incredibly exciting project,” Ammann said. “It’s an early and really important step for carbon capture.”
The Baytown location is close to CO2 storage sites along the Gulf Coast, providing ExxonMobil with a network of potential customers along the Houston Ship Channel.
“What we’re able to do here, with a site like this, is because we have a built-in use case and built-in customer,” Ammann explained. “It gives us that starting point to make the major investment that we can take externally, both on the hydrogen side and on the carbon capture and storage side. As we build the infrastructure necessary to get this going, it allows us to create that foundation.”
According to Ammann, half of the hydrogen produced by the site will go to customers around the area to support local decarbonization efforts.
ExxonMobil is a member of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), a group of companies committed to advancing CCS efforts in the Houston area.
“We are part of 14 different companies that have come together to advocate specifically for carbon capture and storage,” said Ed Graham, vice president, Ventures, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.
Companies in the initiative include ExxonMobil, Air Liquide, BASF, Shell, Calpine, Chevron, Dow, INEOS, Linde, LyondellBasell, Marathon Petroleum, NRG Energy, Phillips 66 and Valero. Together, these companies and others in the region could capture and safely store up to 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and about 100 million metric tons per year by 2040, helping to significantly reduce emissions in the Houston region, according to an ExxonMobil press release.
Industry support for large-scale carbon capture and storage continues to gain momentum in Houston, as well as support from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Harris County Commissioners’ Court, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Center for Houston’s Future.
“Collective efforts could capture and store approximately 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 and 100 million by 2040, significantly reducing CO2 emissions from one of the United States’ largest industrial areas,” stated the release.
ExxonMobil has progressed to site selection for the planned hydrogen plant at Baytown, but it’s too early to discuss permitting, project cost or job creation, according to ExxonMobil spokesman Todd Spitler. A final investment decision is expected in the next two to three years, subject to supportive government policy, necessary regulatory permits and market conditions.
