The bidding was won by Talos in partnership with carbon capture and storage (CCS)-focused project management company Carbonvert, seeing the company become part of a select group of domestic independent energy companies with a physical project site for carbon sequestration and storage.
Stretching across a total land area of over 40,000 gross acres, the project site is located offshore in Texas state waters in the Gulf of Mexico, close to a large concentration of industrial emitters along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.
The Texas School Land Board unanimously approved awarding the lease to Talos and Carbonvert after it was selected as the only successful proposal among twelve submissions.
Owned 100% by the Company’s existing seismic database, Talos’ project site is anticipated to sequester 225 to 275 MMT (million metric tonnes) of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources in the area.
Speaking about the winning bid, Timothy S. Duncan, President, CEO, Talos, said that this award presents the first of several steps in its strategy to build multiple carbon capture and storage sites along the United States Gulf Coast.
He continued, “We want to redefine the role of traditional oil and gas companies, as we recognise the need to responsibly develop and produce hydrocarbons as well as lowering overall emissions in the communities where we work and live.”
Recognising the project’s importance to the State of Texas and the Texas School Land Board, Duncan sees it as benefitting the environment through decarbonisation as well as representing an attractive commercial opportunity.
Submitted in partnership with Carbonvert, the bid submission pre-dates the Company’s exclusive joint venture with Storegga Geotechnologies to pursue CCS throughout the US Gulf Coast.
A lease agreement will now be negotiated between the partners and the GLO staff based on the terms of the Talos bid and those in the original request for proposal from the GLO.