Lower-carbon steel and permanent storage: CCS expands across the Gulf Coast

ExxonMobil has begun carbon capture and storage (CCS) operations at Nucor’s direct reduced iron (DRI) facility in Convent, Louisiana.

The project will capture, transport, and store up to 800,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year, resulting in the lowest-carbon DRI at scale in North America.

This is our third CCS startup for a third-party customer and the second we’ve brought online in 2026, marking another step forward as our Gulf Coast CCS network — including the Rose carbon storage project — continues to grow.

Advancing the future of steel

Steel is essential to modern life, supporting everything from transportation to energy systems to manufacturing. It's a high-demand sector, and traditionally a carbon-intensive one.

By capturing CO₂ from Nucor's Convent facility, we're helping one of the world's leading steel producers make further progress toward its carbon-reduction goals and advance lower-emissions steel production at scale.

We're proud to support an industry that underpins economic growth around the world—right here on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Dedicated storage moves forward at Rose

The startup at Nucor also reflects continued progress across our broader CCS network. That progress depends on having dedicated CO₂ storage capacity (Class VI injection wells) available at scale. ExxonMobil’s permit for our Rose carbon storage project has cleared a major hurdle, receiving approval from the Texas Railroad Commission.

This is a huge step forward for us, our customers, and Texas.

The Texas Railroad Commission issued a draft permit in July 2025 for three Class VI injection wells in Jefferson County, Texas, enabling safe, permanent storage of up to 5 million metric tons of CO₂ per year for thirteen years. Through every step of the permitting process, the Rose project has met and exceeded the necessary standards.

Rose is the first Class VI storage site in ExxonMobil’s CCS system along the Gulf Coast and will help provide the dedicated storage capacity needed to support industrial customers like Nucor in their emissions-reduction goals.

Momentum continues

Each CCS startup represents real progress toward a future where carbon management is integrated into industrial operations—reducing emissions while supporting essential production.

Projects like Nucor demonstrate growing demand for CCS, while projects like Rose provide the infrastructure needed to support that growth. With three third-party CCS projects now operational and additional infrastructure in development, our network is growing to meet increasing demand.

The stage is set for growth. We're excited to start injecting.