Talos Energy Inc. and EnLink Midstream announced Feb. 16 that they have executed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a complete CO2 capture, transportation and sequestration solution for industrial-scale emitters in Louisiana.
The joint service offering will be focused on the Mississippi River corridor from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, which is one of the largest concentrated sources of CO2 emissions in the United States, and will utilize significant portions of EnLink's existing regional pipeline infrastructure of approximately 4,000 miles in Louisiana and Talos's recently-acquired River Bend CCS site in east Louisiana, as announced in a separate press release, which includes approximately 26,000 acres of pore space and provides sequestration capacity of over 500 million metric tonnes in the area. EnLink and Talos have begun to market the offering to potential customers.
Talos President and CEO Timothy S. Duncan commented: "We are very happy to join forces with EnLink from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in the Mississippi River corridor to leverage their infrastructure and operational reliability as a midstream solution, initially focused on the River Bend CCS project in east Louisiana."
"We are proud to offer with Talos a complete CO2 capture, transportation, and sequestration solution for customers in eastern Louisiana," said EnLink's Chairman and CEO Barry Davis. "We plan to utilize our existing pipeline infrastructure and expertise in building midstream infrastructure to provide cost efficient transportation, while reducing the environmental impact compared to new pipeline construction."
Talos subsurface expertise and sequestration sites
Talos has recently entered into an agreement with a large landowner that will allow for multiple sequestration sites near EnLink's existing pipelines. This agreement includes sequestration rights to approximately 26,000 surface acres in Iberville, St. James, Assumption and Lafourche Parishes.
The acreage comprises three strategically located sites along the Mississippi River industrial corridor known collectively as the River Bend CCS project. Talos and EnLink believe the area provides excellent structural geology and rock properties for CO2 sequestration, providing cumulative capacity of over 500 million metric tonnes.
Utilizing EnLink's existing pipeline infrastructure
EnLink and its predecessors have a long history of pipeline and processing operations in Louisiana. EnLink has identified existing pipelines to be utilized for CO2 transportation from emissions sources in the Geismar, Donaldsonville, Plaquemine and St. Charles areas.
This existing pipeline infrastructure provides a cost-efficient solution and greatly reduces the environmental impacts compared to new pipeline construction in environmentally sensitive areas. Due to optionality and redundancy in EnLink's large pipeline network in the region, EnLink does not anticipate a material impact to its existing natural gas business from the repurposing of identified pipelines to CO2 service.
High concentration of emissions sources
The joint service offering is focused on one of the highest CO2 emitting regions in the United States which emits approximately 80 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year. The Mississippi River corridor alone accounts for nearly two-thirds of the total industrial emissions in Louisiana.
The emitting sources include ammonia, hydrogen, methanol and base chemical facilities as well as refinery and other petrochemical facilities. Potential customers are motivated to participate in carbon capture and sequestration to reduce emissions and to potentially offer "blue" products and participate in a low-carbon economy.