AUSTIN, Texas — ExxonMobil has signed a lease with the state of Texas for more than 270,000 acres on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico along the Southeast Texas coast.
The company signed a lease recently with the Texas General land Office to lease 271,068 acres of "submerged land" to use for carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, according to a news release from Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham.
The lease, located off the coast of Jefferson, Chambers and Galveston Counties, is the most extensive CCS transportation and storage lease in the United States, according to the news release.
The lease will provide millions to the Texas Permanent School Fund, according to the release.
“As the steward of 13 million acres of energy-rich state land, I am proud to partner with ExxonMobil in utilizing state land for innovative solutions that can help ensure future energy production," said Commissioner Buckingham.
"Energy independence is vital to ensuring our state and country remain economic leaders around the globe,”
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.