Chevron U.S.A. through its Chevron New Energies division, and a subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) announced a framework to study and evaluate opportunities for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) from their respective business operations in the U.S. Midcontinent and Gulf Coast. The companies expect the initial phase of the study in which they will evaluate specific business opportunities to last about six months.

“This joint effort has the potential to advance our ongoing work to grow our lower carbon businesses with commercial scale using the industry expertise both companies bring to the project,” said Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies. “International climate change scientists working with the United Nations have identified carbon capture as a critical technology needed to help the global energy system transition to a lower carbon future.”

The companies have successfully worked together on prior business opportunities and believe they bring complementary capabilities to successfully pursue CCUS. Projects resulting from the evaluation would seek to combine Enterprise’s extensive midstream pipeline and storage network with Chevron’s sub-surface expertise to create opportunities to capture, aggregate, transport and sequester carbon dioxide in support of the evolving energy landscape.

“The joint study with Chevron is part of our growing focus on developing and utilizing new technologies and leveraging our transportation and storage network in order to better manage our own carbon footprint and provide customers with new midstream services to support a lower carbon economy,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, co-chief executive officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “Our success in upgrading and repurposing existing assets will be important to the success of any initiative we move forward with.”