Oil and gas firms continue to see carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) as a key decarbonisation pathway, along with businesses in other hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and steel, a new report by GlobalData has found.
According to GlobalData’s Strategic Intelligence report, Carbon Capture and Storage, as of June 2026, more than 70% of operational and upcoming carbon capture facilities by number were associated with energy assets, with oil and gas companies among the ‘key participants’.
Oil and gas firms are prioritising CCUS where it supports core assets, including LNG, refining, hydrogen production and upstream operations, the report noted. Major CCUS projects include Northern Lights, which is jointly owned by Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, as well as Eni’s Ravenna cluster and ExxonMobil’s Gulf Coast CO₂ transport and storage network.
Carbon capture base
“As of June 2026, the operational carbon capture base remained modest, with more than 140 projects globally across multiple industries and a cumulative capacity of 62 million tonnes per annum (mtpa),” commented Ravindra Puranik, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData.
“The energy sector accounted for the bulk of this capacity. However, most future capture capacity remains concentrated in the feasibility and FEED [front-end engineering and design] stages of project development.”
Project hurdles
At the same time, despite a strong project pipeline, CCUS projects continue to face commercial, regulatory and infrastructure barriers, with many projects exposed to financing risk, cost inflation, regulatory uncertainty, and delays.
As GlobalData noted, without sufficient transport infrastructure and storage capacity, captured carbon dioxide cannot be permanently sequestered at scale, affecting project development.
“The US 45Q tax credit, the European Union’s ETS, and Canada’s carbon pricing mechanism support project economics,” Puranik added. “However, high capital and operating costs, inadequate CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, permitting delays, long-term liability, and public skepticism remain critical for the mass CCUS deployment.” Read more here.
