KEY POINTS
- ExxonMobil expands carbon capture along the Gulf Coast.
- Contracted capacity reaches about 9 million tons annually.
- Data centers emerge as a potential new market.
ExxonMobil is accelerating its push into carbon capture and storage along the U.S. Gulf Coast, outlining a sharper rise in project activity after a milestone-heavy 2025 that marked its transition from contracting agreements into operating assets.
The expansion is being led by ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions unit, which is positioning carbon capture as a workable path for heavy industry facing tighter emissions pressure while demand for energy-intensive products remains firm. The U.S. Gulf Coast, home to one of the world’s most concentrated clusters of refineries, petrochemical plants, gas processors, and manufacturers, remains the focal point of the company’s buildout.
The renewed push follows a year in which ExxonMobil brought its first commercial carbon capture project into service. The system transports and stores up to 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from CF Industries’ Donaldsonville complex in Louisiana. While modest by regional emissions totals, the project serves as a functioning transport and storage template that can be expanded as additional emitters connect.
Contracts turn into operations
ExxonMobil also broadened its customer base in 2025, signing agreements with AtmosClear and Lake Charles Methanol II to provide carbon dioxide transport and storage services for projects in Louisiana. Those contracts add a further 2 million metric tons per year of capacity, lifting the company’s contracted portfolio to about 9 million metric tons annually across six customers.
The company is widening the range of industries it expects to serve. Alongside earlier agreements covering steel, ammonia, natural gas processing, and industrial gases, ExxonMobil said its carbon capture portfolio now includes power generation and methanol production. These sectors account for large, concentrated emissions that are difficult to reduce without either carbon capture or major changes to industrial processes.
Execution is now the near-term priority. According to OilPrice, ExxonMobil expects several projects to move into operation in 2026, including planned carbon dioxide capture from the New Generation Gas Gathering natural gas processing facility in Louisiana. Additional startups are anticipated with industrial gas supplier Linde and steelmaker Nucor, extending the capture-to-storage network.
Data centers emerge as demand source
Beyond traditional heavy industry, ExxonMobil is also targeting data infrastructure as a new source of demand. The company aims to reach a final investment decision by late 2026 on its first Low Carbon Data Center concept. The model would pair natural gas-fired power generation with carbon capture to supply electricity for data centers while limiting associated emissions.
If advanced, the move would place ExxonMobil within one of the fastest-growing electricity demand segments, drawing on its existing gas supply and subsurface expertise.
More broadly, carbon capture is regaining attention as one of the few scalable options for reducing emissions across industrial clusters without forcing immediate plant rebuilds. Shared transport and storage networks along the Gulf Coast could lower entry barriers as permitting frameworks and pore-space access evolve.
ExxonMobil said progress will continue to depend on regulatory approvals and community engagement at local, state, and federal levels. After a year defined by first operations and new contracts, the company is framing 2026 as a period of acceleration, marked by more projects coming online and a broader customer mix anchored on the Gulf Coast.
