Hogan Lovells guides JX Nippon Oil & Gas in taking sole ownership of the world's largest carbon capture facility

Press releases | 15 September 2022

Houston, 13 September 2022 — Global law firm Hogan Lovells has advised client JX Nippon Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Japanese natural resources group Eneos Holdings, Inc, in a deal to acquire full ownership of Petra Nova Parish Holdings, the operator of a project to harness carbon dioxide emissions from a Texas coal-fired power plant. The deal will make JX Nippon the sole owner of the Petra Nova project, the world's largest carbon capture and storage facility.

The Petra Nova project can capture and separate 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. The transaction will see JX Nippon pay current owner NRG Energy approximately US$3.6 million for the stake and will make JX Nippon the sole owner of the project.

From initial start-up in December 2016 to the end of the three-year demonstration period, the Petra Nova captured 92.4 percent of carbon dioxide from the slipstream of flue gas processed. In May 2020, Petra Nova was placed in reserve shutdown status due to a decline in energy prices, allowing it to be brought back online when economic conditions improved.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Houston-based Corporate & Finance partner David Locascio. David was supported in Houston by partner Aaron Crane, senior associate Blake Jenkins, associate Charlotte Nicholas, and law clerk Mariana Avendano; in Washington, D.C. by partners Jim Banks, Scott Lilienthal, and Jamie Wickett, and senior counsels John Lilyestrom and Mary Anne Sullivan; in New York by associates Juan Moreno and Sara Posner; in Los Angeles by partner Bennett Spiegel; and in Denver by partner Scott Reisch and senior associate Marta Orpiszewska.