Carbon+Intel: ExxonMobil, Petronas to study CCS in Malaysia

ExxonMobil and Petronas have signed an MOU to collaborate and jointly explore potential CCS technologies projects in Malaysia.

The companies will assess the viability of carbon capture projects in select locations offshore Peninsular Malaysia and share subsurface technical and infrastructure data for pipelines, facilities and wells as they evaluate potential projects for the storage, transport and reutilization of captured CO₂.

The MOU strengthens a decades-long strategic partnership between ExxonMobil and PETRONAS and has the objective of helping Malaysia reduce emissions and achieve its net-zero ambitions.

“ExxonMobil continues to explore opportunities in Southeast Asia for large-scale carbon capture and storage projects that have the potential to make the greatest impact in the highest-emitting sectors,” said Joe Blommaert, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “With joint collaboration and well-designed policies, we can use our capabilities to develop projects that progress reliable, safe and ready-to-deploy technologies at scale that could significantly reduce emissions throughout Malaysia.”

“This collaboration is an important step to unlock the opportunities and potential of CCS in Malaysia through applied technologies and innovation, potentially helping us reach our net zero carbon emissions aspirations amidst an evolving energy landscape,” said Adif Zulkifi, Petronas executive VP and CEO of Upstream. “Petronas and ExxonMobil share a long-standing relationship that has seen multiple successful collaborations and business ventures between the two parties in Malaysia and abroad. We are proud of our collaboration with ExxonMobil and look forward to achieving a shared ambition of delivering energy security and clean energy solutions.”

The MOU with Petronas is the ninth CCS opportunity that ExxonMobil has announced since establishing its business in March 2021 to commercialize low-emission technologies. The others are in Houston, Texas; LaBarge, Wyoming; Edmonton, Canada; St Fergus, UK; Fife, UK; Normandy, France; Indonesia; and Russia. These are in addition to previously announced projects in Qatar; Antwerp, Belgium; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Australia.

Low Carbon Solutions is initially focusing its carbon capture and storage efforts on capturing CO₂ from industrial activity that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, and injecting it into deep underground geologic formations for safe, secure and permanent storage. It is also pursuing strategic investments in biofuels and hydrogen to bring those lower-emissions energy technologies to scale for hard-to-decarbonize sectors of the economy.

The company has an equity share in approximately one-fifth of global CO₂ capture capacity and has captured approximately 40% of all the captured anthropogenic CO₂ in the world.

The International Energy Agency projects that CCS could mitigate up to 15% of global emissions by 2040, and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates global decarbonization efforts could be twice as costly without its wide-scale deployment.

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