Exxon pitches $100B carbon storage project

Exxon Mobil pitched a $100 billion public-private carbon storage project on Monday that would take certain emissions from U.S. plants and bury them under the Gulf of Mexico.

The project would need “$100 billion or more” from private companies and from local, state and federal governments, President of Exxon’s Low Carbon Solutions Joe Blommaert said, Reuters reported.

The plan would be implemented near the Houston Ship Channel and capture CO2 from the 50 largest industrial emitters, Guy Powell, vice president of Low Carbon Solutions, said.

The CO2 would be taken to offshore reservoirs and buried 6,000 feet below the seafloor.

“We could create an economy of scale where we can reduce the cost of the carbon dioxide mitigation, create jobs and reduce the emissions,” Blommaert said.

Carbon capture technology aims to take CO2 that is emitted when fossil fuels are burned, but the technology is still developing and some are skeptical that this is a viable solution to the problem.

Exxon believes that carbon capture could be a $2 trillion industry by 2040.

Exxon spokesman Casey Norton has said the investors, banks and government officials have been open to the project, Reuters reported.

The company recently reported that it lost $22.4 billion in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.