Nucor enters carbon capture, storage agreement with ExxonMobil

Steelmaker Nucor Corp., Charlotte, North Carolina, has signed an agreement with Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil to capture, transport and store carbon from Nucor’s direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Convent, Louisiana.

Per the agreement, ExxonMobil will capture up to 800,000 metric tons per year of CO­2 emissions the DRI plant and store it at an ExxonMobil-owned facility in Louisiana.

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“This transformative CCS project with ExxonMobil is a key part of our decarbonization strategy and will result in some of the lowest embodied carbon DRI or HBI in North America,” Nucor Chair, President and CEO Leon Topalian says. “We are taking a multifaceted approach to decarbonization, and this partnership builds on previous investments we have made in a carbon-free iron startup, renewable energy generation and the development of small modular nuclear reactor technology.”

Nucor says it expects the project to start in 2026 and supports Louisiana’s objective of reaching net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. Law firm Haynes Boone represented Nucor during the process of forming the agreement, led by firm partner Hugh Tucker, associate John Craven and a broader team consisting of partners Jeremy Kennedy and Mary Mendoza, senior counsel Jeff Civins and associate Will Johnson.

“This collaboration with Nucor is the latest example of how we’re delivering on our mission to help accelerate the world’s path to net-zero,” ExxonMobil Low Carbon President Dan Ammann says. “We look forward to applying our technology and expertise to reducing emissions at Nucor.”

With its recycling-based production method, Nucor claims it is already one of the cleanest steelmakers in the world. The company adds the circular nature of remelting recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces means its steel mills generate roughly two-thirds less than the carbon dioxide of extractive blast furnace steelmaking plants, even when accounting for scope 3 emissions, which include all upstream and downstream emissions in the supply chain. Nucor says it is one of the first steel companies to disclose its scope 3 emissions.