Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Corp, and ExxonMobil ally on CCS

January 26, 2023, by Aida Čučuk

Nippon Steel Corporation, Japan’s steel producer, Mitsubishi Corporation, a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses, and ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, an energy and petrochemical company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly study carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the establishment of potential CCS value chains in the Asia Pacific region.

Illustration / Archive / Courtesy of ExxonMobil

Under the MoU, the companies are expected to conduct research on the capture of CO2 emissions from Nippon Steel’s domestic steelworks and evaluate the necessary infrastructure development required, with a view to establishing CCS value chains in the Asia Pacific region.

MoU also includes a detailed evaluation of Asia Pacific storage opportunities, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia.

Mitsubishi Corporation said it plans to evaluate the overseas CO2 transportation and the development of the CCS value chain.

In its medium to long-term management plan announced in March 2021, Nippon Steel set forth the Nippon Steel Carbon Neutral Vision 2050, positioning CCS as one of the key technologies to realise it.

Through this new study, Nippon Steel said it will progress the implementation of CCS including securing storage sites for overseas storage of CO2 generated from steel works, developing storage infrastructure, advocating for policies and regulations, and examining its cost adequacy.

In its Roadmap for a Carbon Neutral Society formulated in October 2021 and its Medium-Term Management Strategy 2024 released in May last year, Mitsubishi Corporation identified energy transformation as a key initiative, and through the joint effort with Nippon Steel and ExxonMobil, the company said it will evaluate the overseas CO2 transportation and the development of CCS value chain.

ExxonMobil said it is also committed to accelerating significant emission reductions through strategic collaborations and through leading the development and deployment of scalable lower-emission technologies such as CCS needed to advance solutions for various industries in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.