Talos Eyes Big Carbon Capture Role in the US and Beyond

Abstract

The energy transition momentum currently sweeping through the oil patch has prompted corporate rebranding, heightened investment in renewables and a genuine sense of responsibility over the amount of harmful gases that industries release into the air. Beyond emission reductions, carbon capture and storage (CCS), viewed as a novelty by some just a few short decades ago, has leaped to the forefront of greenhouse-gas management solutions, with big players committing big money to projects aimed at ensnaring, transporting, and burying the waste deep underground. Last April, ExxonMobil unveiled plans for a $100-billion CCS hub for the Port of Houston. Dubbed the CCS Innovation Zone, it is expected to be a public-private partnership that will attract participation and funding from companies and government entities. In September, the supermajor went on a buying spree in the shallow-water US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as part of federal Lease Sale 257. It was the apparent high bidder on 94 tracts to the tune of just under $15 million. While these are presently structured as hydrocarbon leases and the company has kept mum on its motivations, the move was almost certainly to gain access to coast acreage that could potentially serve as subsurface storage locations for the proposed Houston hub. Following the lease sale, Spanish operator Repsol said it had partnered with US independent Cox Oil to jointly explore CCS opportunities on the private operator’s shallow-water GOM acreage. Under the terms of the agreement, the consortium will share technical knowledge and resources to evaluate potential projects that would combine the offshore expertise and operations of Cox Oil with Repsol’s technical knowledge and global experience with CCS projects. Then there is Talos Energy. The Houston-based independent has jumped feet first into the CCS pool, announcing a pair of US-based projects with designs on making carbon capture a steady revenue contributor over the coming years. Early in 2021, the company evaluated various green businesses where it could make a difference—and a dollar—including carbon capture, but also wind and wave energy. At that time, CCS was more of a peripheral discussion, but as the company took a closer look it became apparent that its skill set and investment profile lined up best with a role in carbon capture. By April, the company was presented with the opportunity to propose a CCS solution solicited by the State of Texas’ General Land Office (GLO).