Exxon and Chevron may share similar low-carbon strategic foundations, but Exxon has pulled clearly ahead of its US rival in both transparency and project pipeline terms. Leveraging their subsurface and downstream expertise, both US majors are investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS), low-carbon fuels and lithium extraction from brine. But whereas Exxon has talked up achieving aggregate returns of around 15% and tipping an additional $2 billion in earnings from these businesses by 2030, Chevron's latest corporate sustainability report dropped any mention of its targets first laid out in 2021. However, both companies’ plans have always been predicated on supportive policy and growing market interest — a significant caveat that led Exxon to acknowledge for the first time last month that some of its projects could face delays. The signaling suggests that, despite its lead, a bumpier path lies ahead.
Exxon is making fast progress toward storing around 30 million tons of CO2 per year by the end of the decade, thanks to projects in the US that CEO Darren Woods has described as “some of the lowest-cost in the country.” Most notably, the firm has built the industry's largest CCS-as-a-service business, capitalizing on its extensive CO2 pipeline network acquired through the strategic purchase of Denbury.
