ExxonMobil plans hydrogen and CCS facility in Texas

U.S. energy major ExxonMobil is planning a hydrogen production plant and one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects at its site at Baytown, Texas.

With this move, ExxonMobil wants to support efforts to reduce emissions from its operations and local industry.

“Hydrogen has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in vital sectors of the economy,” said Joe Blommaert from ExxonMobil. “By helping to activate new markets for hydrogen and CCS, this project can play an important part in achieving America’s lower-emissions aspirations.”

The hydrogen facility would produce up to 1 billion cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen. Blue H2 is an industry term for hydrogen produced from natural gas and supported by CCS. The CCS infrastructure for this project would have the capacity to store up to 10 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year. Thus, it would more than double ExxonMobil’s current capacity.

Using H2 as a fuel at the Baytown plant could reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by up to 30 per cent. In addition, it would be supporting ExxonMobil’s ambition to achieve net-zero GHG emissions from its operated assets by 2050. It also would enable the site to manufacture lower-emissions products for its customers.

The project would be ExxonMobil’s initial contribution to a cross-industry effort to establish a Houston CCS hub.

The company expects a final investment decision in two to three years.

ExxonMobil has already produced about 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of H2. It also has more than 30 years of experience capturing and storing CO2.

ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions is to commercialise low-emission technologies and is focusing on CCS, hydrogen and biofuels. Over the next six years, the company plans to invest more than $15 billion on lower-emission initiatives.