Specialist
Former senior adviser at Exxon Mobil Corp
Agenda
- Detailed project analysis on ExxonMobil’s (NYSE: XOM) planned Baytown Texas integrated hydrogen and carbon capture project
- Project costs, development timelines and potential operating risks
- Future development opportunities for integrating hydrogen and carbon capture into ExxonMobil’s portfolio
Questions
1.
Could you give an overview of ExxonMobil’s refining and chemicals operations at Baytown?
2.
How does the Baytown facility source the feedstocks, crude oil, natural gas and hydrogen that is used?
3.
Presumably, the point of the ExxonMobil low-carbon solutions business is to cut down on CO2 emissions. Can you give us a sense of what emissions are like from an operation such as Baytown?
4.
Is ExxonMobil’s planned hydrogen and CCS [carbon capture and storage] project at the Baytown refinery different to other things done in the industry, or is this like other existing projects?
5.
To your point that the cost of CO2 capture would be over USD 200 per tonne, would that be in any post-combustion low concentration, low-pressure type facility?
6.
What would the cost be to capture CO2 at Baytown? I understand there are a lot of diffuse sources of it.
7.
How exactly will the CO2 be captured at Baytown? Are there options available to ExxonMobil or will the company go with something it’s already done?
8.
Natural gas goes in and it makes blue hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Where’s the right place to store CO2 around the Baytown area?
9.
If Baytown emits 13.5 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, and some meaningful part of it is going to be captured, how much storage space will be required, whether it’s in the Gulf of Mexico or onshore?
10.
In terms of practical implications after capturing the CO2, how big are the pipes in Baytown? What are the flow rates? Has anything been done like this? What risks might there be and is there existing infrastructure that companies such as ExxonMobil can leverage as opposed to building new pipelines to handle it?
11.
Why not use the CO2 that’s captured for enhanced oil recovery? Do you think this is a possibility or does sending it to the Gulf Coast make more sense?
12.
We talked about how big Baytown is in terms of refining in petrochemicals. Will adding in more of the blue hydrogen production and carbon capture have any impact on operating rates? Can this facility continue to run at levels that you’d expect, or are there different maintenance cycles for capturing carbon or SMRs [small modular reactors]?
13.
Is Baytown integrated with other ExxonMobil facilities in the region? You mentioned the design said 10 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, I think it was in the storage system. What else can be done here, whether with other parties or other ExxonMobil facilities?
14.
When you think about adding carbon capture and hydrogen at Baytown, how long do you think it will take to get this up and running?
15.
Carbon capture and hydrogen are key parts of the ExxonMobil low carbon strategy. On what other similar projects to the Baytown one does the company have an opportunity to deploy its capital?
16.
Could you discuss the carbon capture hub in southeast Australia ExxonMobil was recently talking about? Would this just be for CCS and not include hydrogen?
17.
I know ExxonMobil is not the operator, but it has a stake in the Gorgon project in Australia and there have been some documented issues there with capturing CO2. What is your understanding of Gorgon and the challenge there? Why wouldn’t this occur in southeast Australia?
18.
What is the feasibility of taking coal from Australia, gasifying it and shipping hydrogen to Japan? Baytown has capital committed, so we can see this happening at an existing plant. How far off would such a proposal be for you?
19.
What 1-3 key questions should we be asking ExxonMobil’s leadership about its hydrogen and carbon capture business?
