On Thursday 22 February 2024 Karl Jeffery, Publisher of Carbon Capture Journal, facilitated an online webinar exploring the Developments within US carbon capture and storage.

First, we heard from John Thompson, Technology and Markets Director at the Clean Air Task Force, who is responsible for fostering low-carbon solutions for fossil fuels and promoting transitions to clean energy. John was one of the key architects of the new US tax policies that had generated a surge of investment in carbon capture and sequestration technologies, and provided an overview of the current status of carbon management in the US.

Next, Tracy Evans, CEO of CapturePoint of Allen, Texas, a company evaluating and developing CO2 deep underground permanent storage projects in 6 states, shared insights. CapturePoint’s plans included the potential largest onshore CO2 storage project in the US, currently under development in central Louisiana, with multiple injection sites each capable of taking 7.5m tonnes a year CO2 for permanent storage, each with a lifetime capacity that might exceed 250m tonnes, and an estimated 1 GT capacity altogether.

Tracy explained the unique geology of the Louisiana site and discussed progress in development there and at other CapturePoint sites. CapturePoint, formerly named Perdure Petroleum, with established CO2 / enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, was permanently sequestering 1-2 mtpa CO2 in the EOR sites, and had commitments for over 3 mtpa CO2 for permanent deep underground sequestration as the new carbon storage sites came online. CapturePoint’s development plans allowed for a ten-fold or more increase in CO2 sequestration volumes in the next decade.

Third, we heard from Vernon Travis, an elected member of Vernon Parish School Board in Louisiana and a key local leader who had helped shape CapturePoint’s community engagement project associated with their deep underground carbon capture site in the region. The “Capturing Better Futures” initiative had created an apprenticeship programme that trains local public school students in welding and other pipeline construction/maintenance skills.

Conclusions and points of discussion 

You can view the webinar here.