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A proposed carbon capture and storage hub planned with ties to Port Arthur and beyond received a boost Monday with news of a major land purchase.

Joint venture partners Chevron, Talos Energy and Carbonvert announced the acquisition of nearly 100,000 acres so they can more than triple the size of a proposed Bayou Bend project for the Texas Gulf Coast.

According to conservativeenergynetwork.org, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, known CCS, involves the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial processes, such as steel and cement production, or from the burning of fossil fuels in power generation. This carbon is then transported from where it was produced, via ship or in a pipeline, and stored deep underground in geological formations.

Combined with the previously announced 40,000 acres offshore Beaumont and Port Arthur, the expanded project encompasses nearly 140,000 acres of space for permanent CO2 sequestration, the companies said.

The total acreage holds a gross storage capacity of more than 1 billion metric tons, which the JV partners said would position Bayou Bend to be a leading carbon transportation and storage solution for industrial emitters located in the Houston Ship Channel and Beaumont-Port Arthur region.

According to the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce, separately, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told the CERAWeek conference in Houston that the company would spend the rest of this year working through options to export natural gas to Europe from its Leviathan field off the coast of Israel.

Wirth said the company is evaluating a multibillion-dollar pipeline, exporting via existing facilities in nearby Egypt and floating liquefied natural gas, noting the latter option is simplest because it does not rely on multiple governments.

Oil & Gas Journal reported in 2021, Talos and Carbonvert were selected as the winning bidders for the Texas General Land Office’s Jefferson County, Tex., carbon storage lease, located in state waters offshore Beaumont and Port Arthur. It remains the first and only offshore lease in the US dedicated to CO2 sequestration, the companies said. Chevron joined the joint venture in May 2022.