Nippon Steel Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation and ExxonMobil Asia Pacific have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study carbon capture and storage (CCS) and potential CCS value chains in Asia Pacific.

The three companies will conduct research on the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Nippon Steel’s domestic steelworks and evaluate the necessary infrastructure development required.

It would also include a detailed evaluation of the regions’ storage opportunities, including in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

Mitsubishi Corporation plans to evaluate the overseas CO2 transportation and the development of CCS value chain, and it marks the first study to develop value chains for carbon capture in Japan with the aim to storing overseas in the region.

Nippon Steel set forth the ‘Nippon Steel Carbon Neutral Vision 2050’ in its medium- to long-term management plan announced in March 2021 and positioned CCS as one of the key technologies to realise this vision.