Spiritus Ditches Carbon Capture, Sells CO2 to Oil Producers Instead

Cutting-edge climate tech startup Spiritus is pivoting its focus from capturing and storing carbon dioxide to selling it to U.S. oil producers for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The company has signed preliminary agreements with three major producers, who will inject the CO2 into reservoirs to unlock an estimated 70 million additional barrels of oil in Texas, the Rockies, and the Midwest.

Citing a challenging market for carbon removal due to insufficient government support and high costs, CEO Charles Cadieu said that 'the pull is just great in the EOR space', making it a more commercially viable option. The U.S. government's withdrawal of funding from various projects has compounded this issue, while major buyers of carbon credits have scaled back their purchases.

A University of Houston report from last month found that as many as 137 billion barrels of U.S. oil are technically recoverable using CO2-EOR. This technology not only supports permanent carbon storage but also produces uniquely low-carbon intensity oil for global markets.