Enbridge, Oxy review CCS technology for U.S. Gulf Coast

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Building on regional momentum, it's possible that more carbon sequestration technology could emerge on the U.S. Gulf Coast, Canadian and U.S.-based partners announced Wednesday.

Canadian energy company Enbridge announced it signed a letter of intent with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum -- known simply as Oxy -- to develop a sequestration hub for carbon dioxide in the Corpus Christi area of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

"We look forward to working with Enbridge as we advance our plans to develop sequestration hubs that will provide a practical decarbonization solution for industrial emitters," said Jeff Alvarez, the president and general manager of sequestration programs at Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.

Chevron and 10 other companies last year expressed interest in developing large-scale carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology in the Houston area. If built, the companies behind the project said it could capture as much as 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

The U.S.Energy Department estimates the entire Gulf Coast region could store as much as 500 billion metric tons of CO2 using CCS, the equivalent of 130 years of industrial- and power-based emissions.

Capture CO2 can either be stored in underground geological formations or be sold to end-users, such as those working on beverage carbonation.