Talos, Chevron Expand Bayou Bend CCS Storage to 1 Billion Tonnes

Bayou Bend CCS LLC announced a major expansion on March 6 that more than quadruple the CO2 storage capacity of the Texas Gulf Coast project to more than 1 billion metric tonnes.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) joint venture of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Talos Energy Inc. and Carbonvert Inc. said it purchased more than 100,000 acres onshore in Chambers and Jefferson counties, Texas. In combination with Bayou Bend’s previously announced 40,000 acres offshore Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, the expanded Bayou Bend project now encompasses nearly 140,000 acres of pore space for permanent CO2 sequestration.

The total acreage positions Bayou Bend to be a leading carbon transportation and storage player for industrial emitters in the Houston Ship Channel and Beaumont / Port Arthur region, one of the largest industrial corridors in the country, the company said.

Chevron purchased a 50% non-operating stake in Bayou Bend in May 2022. The project, to be operated by Talos, was the first U.S. offshore lease dedicated to carbon sequestration. 

Chris Powers, vice president for carbon capture, utilization and storage at Chevron New Energies, extolled the project to Hart Energy in July 2022.

“The Bayou Bend lease has great geology; it’s not near any significant legacy shelf oil and gas field,” Powers said. “We’re confident in the rocks. We’re confident in the pore volume that’s there, and it’s so close to a number of industrial emitters, the Golden Triangle, as well as Houston. So, it ticked all the right boxes.”

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For Carbonvert, a CCS development and finance company, the expansion fits into its overall strategy.

“This expansion sets us up well to achieve Carbonvert’s goal of sequestering 100 million tonnes before 2032,” said President and CEO Alex Tiller, “and underscores our position as one of the leading independent, pure-play carbon capture and storage developers in the world.”