Chevron started drilling test wells last month for its 142,000-acre carbon storage project in Jefferson County and offshore Port Arthur, including what is believed to be the first offshore test well in the U.S. drilled as part of the emerging carbon capture and storage industry. It joins Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, BP and others that have recently drilled wells east of Houston to collect subsurface data needed to obtain federal permits for projects that would inject carbon dioxide deep underground.
James Frank Howell said he knew he had something good below his 12,000-acre cattle ranch in Liberty when Exxon and Oxy approached him almost simultaneously about leasing subsurface rights to the property. “This is the cream of the cream right here,” Howell said, smiling, as a breeze tugged at his cowboy hat.
Howell ultimately signed with a smaller firm, Houston-based Verde CO2. He said he grew excited about the new industry’s prospects and felt a smaller company dedicated solely to it might start stashing away carbon more quickly.
“I’m 60. I’m not gonna live forever,” Howell said. “You kind of want to see things move on down the road, and not just go lease it and have it sit.” Verde President Jon Grimmer said the company will likely install around 20 wells on Howell’s property — six for CO2 injection and about 14 more to monitor the plume’s movement underground, as required by the federal permitting process.
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