ExxonMobil proposes carbon storage plan for Texas port

ExxonMobil proposes carbon storage plan for Texas port

ExxonMobil is pitching a plan to capture and store carbon dioxide emitted by industrial facilities around Houston that it said could attract $100bn in private investment if the Biden administration put a price on the greenhouse gas.

The oil supermajor is touting the scheme ahead of the US climate summit starting on Thursday, where President Joe Biden plans to announce more aggressive national emissions targets and hopes to spur world leaders to increase their own carbon-cutting goals.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) "should be a key part of the US strategy for meeting its Paris goals and included as part of the administration's upcoming Nationally Determined Contributions“, said Joe Blommaert, head of Exxon's low-carbon focused business, referring to the targets that countries are required to submit under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Oil and gas producers have sought to highlight their commitments to tackle emissions ahead of this week's climate talks, which promise to heap pressure on the fossil fuel industry. BP pledged to stop flaring natural gas in Texas' Permian oilfields by 2025, while EQT, the country's largest natural gas producer, said it backed federal methane regulations.

The International Energy Agency has called carbon capture and storage, which uses chemicals to strip carbon