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Milestone Decarbonization Emissions Reduction Project in Louisiana Announced by Governor Edwards

Louisiana — On October 12, 2022, the Louisiana Office of the Governor announced that Governor John Bel Edwards and executives from major global energy corporations CF Industries, ExxonMobil, and EnLink Midstream announced an “unprecedented” decarbonization collaboration aimed at dramatically reducing industrial CO2 emissions in Louisiana. The announcement, characterized as a potential business template for industrial-scale carbon capture and sequestration projects, was made Wednesday at the State Capitol.

The three businesses have engaged in the largest-ever commercial arrangement to capture emissions from CF Industries’ Ascension Parish industrial complex, transfer the CO2 through EnLink’s transportation network, and permanently store it underground on ExxonMobil property in Vermilion Parish.

“Today’s announcement of this unprecedented, large-scale, low-carbon partnership is a key milepost on Louisiana’s path toward a brighter future for our climate, our economy and our people,” Louisiana Governor Edwards said. “The collaboration and innovation to bring carbon capture and storage technology forward at this scale reaffirms our state’s ability to grow our economy without sacrificing our long-term emission-reduction goals to net zero by 2050.”

CF Industries, a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, recently announced a $198.5 million plan to construct a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at its Donaldsonville, Louisiana ammonia manufacturing plant. ExxonMobil has agreed to transfer the CO2 via EnLink Midstream’s pipeline network to a 125,000-acre safe geologic storage facility in Vermilion Parish, about 100 miles south and west of CF’s operation.

The firms anticipate that the project will begin in early 2025. They anticipate that the initiative will allow them to capture and sequester up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 each year, which is the equivalent of replacing 700,000 gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles.

CF Industries anticipates selling up to 1.7 million metric tons of blue ammonia per year. When CO2 emissions are caught before being released into the atmosphere, a chemical process is called “blue,” making it more carbon-neutral. Blue ammonia demand is predicted to increase dramatically as a decarbonized energy source for difficult-to-abate industries, both for its hydrogen content and as a fuel, because ammonia’s components – nitrogen and hydrogen – do not generate carbon when combusted.

“CF Industries is pleased to partner with ExxonMobil through this definitive CO2 offtake agreement, accelerating our decarbonization journey and supporting Louisiana’s and the country’s climate goals,” said Tony Will, president and chief executive officer, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. “This agreement also ensures that we remain at the forefront of the developing clean energy economy. As we leverage proven carbon capture and sequestration technology, CF Industries will be first-to-market with a significant volume of blue ammonia. This will enable us to supply this low-carbon energy source to hard-to-abate industries that increasingly view it as critical to their own decarbonization goals.”

ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions is trying to bring lower-emission solutions to market, making them available to difficult-to-decarbonize businesses in the US and around the world. It is concentrating its efforts on point-source emissions, which is the process of absorbing CO2 from industrial activity that would otherwise be discharged into the atmosphere. When CO2 is captured, it is injected into deep, subterranean geologic formations for safe, secure, and permanent storage. These storage efforts in the United States are governed by state and federal agencies.

“This landmark project represents large-scale, real-world progress on the journey to decarbonize the global economy,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “ExxonMobil is providing a critical and scalable solution to reduce CO2 emissions, and we’re ready to offer the same service to other large industrial customers in the state of Louisiana and around the world. We’re encouraged by the momentum we see building for projects of this kind, thanks to supportive policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Carbon capture and storage is a safe, established technology that can help some of the most polluting industries reduce their emissions significantly. Manufacturing, power generating, refinery, petrochemical, steel, and cement businesses are among them. With proper government regulations in place, widespread deployment of commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects might result in the formation of a new industry, leading in job creation and economic growth.

“EnLink has a system of over 4,000 miles of pipeline already in the ground in Louisiana,” said Jesse Arenivas, Chief Executive Officer of EnLink. “Utilizing this extensive network enables us to provide the most timely and cost-effective solution to CO2transportation, with a significantly lower environmental impact. Because of this, EnLink is uniquely positioned to be the CO2 transportation provider of choice in Louisiana’s Mississippi River corridor, which is a hub of industrial activity that is important to our economy. We look forward to working with ExxonMobil to help CF Industries and the State of Louisiana reach their decarbonization goals.”

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