Picture: Chris Davis, vice president, carbon sequestration with Milestone Carbon
Courtesy Milestone
Milestone Carbon, a subsidiary of Milestone Environmental Services, announced plans for the CO2 sequestration hub in the southwestern Midland Basin (U.S.). The company has acquired rights to more than 10,000 acres of land and pore space in Midland and Upton counties for the permanent storage of CO2.
“We’ve spent the last 18 months talking with different landowners and there was strong interest in this area to do that,” said Chris Davis, senior vice president, Milestone Carbon. “We’ve been piecing together acreage. The geology has a good story, it’s permeable, secure. There’s a lot of great data supporting sequestration. It’s far from existing production in deep, deep aquifers that can only be used for disposal.”
The acreage is also close to gas processing plants where CO2 is separated from the natural gas to make it marketable, giving processors a solution to their emissions needs, he added. It would be a matter of installing compression and piping to move that CO2 from the processing plants to Milestone’s hub, he said.
“Our production in the Permian Basin in terms of carbon intensity should be more competitive internationally,” he said. “The other piece is what I talk to local leaders and organizations about and that is, this is a signal to more businesses to bring in new talent, bring in new technology, bring in new investment.”
He ticked off manufacturers of ammonia or hydrogen as examples, or new natural gas-fired power generation plans, all of whom look for permitted hubs in seeking locations for their operations.
The company recently received a Class II injection well permit from the Railroad Commission allowing for the sequestration of CO2 from local natural gas processors. Milestone has also submitted a Class VI injection well permit application to the Environmental Protection Agency, which has confirmed it is administratively complete. This permit would increase the sequestration capacity and allow Milestone to inject CO2 from other industrial sources, supporting Permian Basin decarbonization efforts.
Federal tax incentives, including some contained in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, have boosted efforts to develop carbon sequestration hubs, Davis said. He noted the company was already in the process of building its land position, but the IRA lets more industries participate.
“What I’m excited about is the prospect of attracting new industries,” he said. “We’re spending time talking with developers.”
The company estimates the Midland Basin hub should have sufficient capacity to store approximately 30 million metric tons of CO2 over its lifespan, which is roughly the equivalent of the annual carbon emissions from 6.5 million passenger cars and trucks. And the company is not stopping with the Midland Basin. Davis said Milestone is evaluating sites for a hub in the Delaware Basin as well as in southeastern Louisiana.
“The Permian Basin is among the leaders in transporting and injecting CO2,” he said. “It’s probably the most experienced region in the world.”
source: mrt.com