Forbes Story: ExxonMobil Buyout Of Denbury Cements Its Status Atop The CCS World

Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., smiles during the 2023 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, US, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg

[Note: This piece is also published at Forbes.com]

As part of its $4.9 billion deal to acquire Denbury Inc. announced Thursday, ExxonMobilXOM, by far the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) company in the U.S., will own and operate the nation’s largest CO2 pipeline network. That network encompasses 1,300 miles of pipe, 925 of which are sited across Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, the Gulf Coast region that forms the major focus area for the Exxon’s plans for CCS growth.

In the company’s release, CEO Darren Woods makes clear these obvious synergies were a major factor in Exxon’s pursuit of the deal. “Acquiring Denbury reflects our determination to profitably grow our Low Carbon Solutions business by serving a range of hard-to-decarbonize industries with a comprehensive carbon capture and sequestration offering,” Woods says. “The breadth of Denbury’s network, when added to ExxonMobil’s decades of experience and capabilities in CCS, gives us the opportunity to play an even greater role in a thoughtful energy transition, as we continue to deliver on our commitment to provide the world with the vital energy and products it needs.”

Andrew Dittmar, Director at Enverus Intelligence Research, notes in an email that ExxonMobil’s willingness to direct this level of investment to an acquisition almost purely designed to beef up its CCS endeavors marks “another milestone in the maturing carbon capture and storage business.”