Denbury Expands CCS Portfolio in Louisiana with Lapis Energy, Soterra

Denbury Inc. is expanding its carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) portfolio in Louisiana in a new joint venture (JV) with Lapis Energy LP and a definitive agreement with Greif Inc.’s subsidiary Soterra LLC, Denbury said in a June 27 press release.

Denbury and Lapis’ newly formed JV company, Libra CO₂ Storage Solutions LLC, will implement a CCS project at Lapis’ 14,000-acre carbon storage site in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, Lapis also announced in its own release. The site has the potential to store at least 200 million metric tons (MMmt) of CO₂, Denbury said.

Each partner will have a 50% interest in Libra. Lapis will lead the project’s Class VI permitting process, pre-final investment decision phase and initial construction. Denbury will take the reins on operations and construction management upon initial injection.

With the right scale and emissions agreements, Denbury will connect the site to its existing CO₂ pipeline network in Louisiana with a 45-mile pipeline connection. Denbury has already committed volumes to support initial development, contingent on Class VI injection approval and site sanction. Initial injection is scheduled for 2027.

"Our joint venture with Lapis provides access to an ideal site that is extremely well positioned in a high-emissions area along the Mississippi River between Donaldsonville and New Orleans, and we are excited to work with the Lapis team,” Nik Wood, Denbury's senior vice president of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), said in Denbury’s press release. “The potential extension of our pipeline system towards New Orleans would provide significant capacity and flexibility to the Denbury CO₂ pipeline network.”

Separately, Denbury also secured the rights from Soterra to develop a 8,500-acre CCS site in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. The site, called Virgo, is less than five miles from Denbury’s NEJD CO₂ pipeline and has the potential to sequester 100 MMmt of CO₂. Initial injection is currently scheduled for as early as 2026.

The two sites bring Denbury’s CCS sites to 10 and total CO₂ potential storage volume to approximately 2 Bmt and increase the company’s Gulf Coast capacity by 17%, according to Shannon Thornton, account director of The Bliss Group. Outside of Louisiana, Denbury’s sequestration sites include Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Wyoming.

“Adding both of these sites furthers our strategy to provide the industry's largest, most reliable and efficient CO₂ transportation and storage network,” Wood said.

Denbury is an independent energy company with CCUS and EOR operations in the Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountains.