🤠 Carbon Capture in Texas

and Chesapeake LNG, bpx certified nat gas, and DOE's $1.2bn nuclear

Good Morning. This is the Sunya Scoop. The newsletter that takes energy transition news and turns it into an easy-to-read email for you.

Ah CERAWeek.

The time of year when downtown Houston is packed and your LinkedIn news feed is guaranteed to be cringe.

Here's what we have for you today:

  • bpx energy expands certified natural gas across all US onshore upstream

  • 1PointFive (Oxy) announces CCS hub in Texas gulf coast

  • Bayou Bend CCS expands to gigaton scale

  • Chesapeake teams up with Gunvor on LNG

  • IEA releases report on 2022 CO2 emissions

  • DOE announces $1.2bn in funding to reopen and keep open nuclear plants

SUSTAINABILITY
  • bp's U.S. onshore upstream business, bpx energy, expands MiQ certification to all U.S. onshore facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

  • Independent certification is occurring for 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of bp's U.S. onshore natural gas production.

  • The MiQ Standard assesses methane emissions management across three criteria: methane emissions intensity at a facility level, monitoring technology deployment, and company practices.

  • The certification gives bpx energy a more granular understanding of its methane intensity and source emissions, which enables ongoing and additional methane emissions reduction.

  • This follows an initial certification at bpx energy's South Haynesville facility in December 2021 and now includes facilities in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, and Permian.

  • A few weeks ago, we covered the certified natural gas transaction between bpx and CF Industries

  • MiQ certifies ~4% of the global gas market and 17% of U.S. gas production.

  • Other MiQ-certified producers include Chesapeake, Ascent and Comstock.

CARBON CAPTURE
  • 1PointFive, an Oxy subsidiary, leases over 55,000 acres in Texas Gulf Coast to develop a carbon capture and sequestration hub

  • The Bluebonnet Hub is expected to be operational by 2026 and can hold approximately 1.2 billion metric tons of CO2

  • The hub will securely store CO2 in saline formations not associated with oil and gas production

  • 1PointFive completed drilling and subsurface assessment and plans to apply for two Class VI permits in 2023

  • A subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is working with 1PointFive to develop a CO2 transportation solution

  • The hub is located between two of the largest industrial corridors in Texas, providing efficient and safe carbon infrastructure for companies to plug into

CARBON CAPTURE
  • Bayou Bend CCS has expanded its carbon capture and sequestration project by acquiring nearly 100,000 acres onshore in Chambers and Jefferson Counties, Texas.

  • The project, which is located along the Texas Gulf Coast, now encompasses almost 140,000 acres of pore space for permanent CO2 sequestration, making it one of the largest carbon storage projects in the US.

  • The total acreage has a gross storage capacity of over one billion metric tons, positioning Bayou Bend to be a leading carbon transportation and storage solution for industrial emitters located in the Houston Ship Channel and Beaumont/Port Arthur region.

  • Bayou Bend is a joint venture between Chevron, Talos Energy, and Carbonvert, with equity interests remaining 50% Chevron, 25% Talos, and 25% Carbonvert. Chevron became the operator of the JV as of March 1, 2023.

  • The project has the potential to enhance the economic strength of the communities in which it operates, including the eastern Houston Ship Channel, Mont Belvieu area, and eastern Chambers County.

LNG
  • Chesapeake Energy and Gunvor Group have signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for the supply of up to 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum.

  • The purchase price of the LNG will be indexed to Japan Korea Marker (JKM) and the agreement will be for a period of 15 years.

  • Chesapeake and Gunvor will jointly select the most optimal liquefaction facility in the US to liquify the gas produced by Chesapeake and deliver the LNG to Gunvor on a Free-on-Board (FOB) basis with a targeted start date in 2027.

Today marks an important initial step on our path to being LNG ready and we look forward to entering into additional agreements while export capacity continues to come online.

Nick Dell'Osso, Chesapeake CEO
ENERGY TRANSITION
  • Global energy-related CO2 emissions increased 0.9% or 321 Mt in 2022, reaching over 36.8 Gt.

  • Emissions from energy combustion increased by 423 Mt, while emissions from industrial processes decreased by 102 Mt.

  • Increased deployment of clean energy technologies prevented an additional 550 Mt.

  • CO2 growth in 2022 was well below global GDP growth of 3.2%, reverting to a decade-long trend of decoupling emissions and economic growth that was broken by 2021’s sharp rebound in emissions.

  • Emissions from natural gas fell by 1.6% or 118 Mt, while emissions from coal grew by 1.6% or 243 Mt to a new all-time high of almost 15.5 Gt.

  • Emissions from oil grew by 2.5% or 268 Mt to 11.2 Gt, with around half of the increase coming from aviation.

  • The biggest sectoral increase in emissions in 2022 came from electricity and heat generation, whose emissions were up by 1.8% or 261 Mt.

  • Renewables met 90% of last year’s global growth in electricity generation, limiting the rebound in coal power emissions.

  • Emissions from industry declined by 1.7% to 9.2 Gt, largely driven by a decrease in China’s industry emissions.

  • China’s emissions were relatively flat in 2022, declining by 23 Mt or 0.2%.

  • The European Union saw a 2.5% or 70 Mt reduction in CO2 emissions.

  • US emissions grew by 0.8% or 36 Mt, with the highest emissions growth coming from the buildings sector.

  • Emissions from Asia’s emerging market and developing economies, excluding China, grew more than those from any other region in 2022, increasing by 4.2% or 206 Mt CO2.

NUCLEAR

As the nation’s largest source of carbon free energy, nuclear energy is critical to meeting the President’s goal of achieving 100% clean electricity by 2035.

  • The aid is expanded to owners or operators of reactors that ceased operations after Nov. 15, 2021.

  • The U.S. has 92 operating nuclear reactors today, and 13 reactors have been closed in the last 10 years due to shifting energy markets and economic factors.

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.