What Ozona and Marubeni's Bee County FID Unlocks Next

Ozona CCS and Marubeni Corporation have reached a final investment decision on the Pawnee Carbon Sequestration Project in Bee County, Texas. The 50-50 joint venture will capture CO2 from a natural gas treating plant and store it deep underground. First injection is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.

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What Did Ozona and Marubeni Approve in Bee County?

Ozona and Marubeni approved full investment in Pawnee, a carbon storage project about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio. Ozona announced the final investment decision on the Texas carbon storage project on October 27, 2026.

Ozona is a San Antonio carbon management company founded in 2021. Marubeni is a Tokyo-based global trading and investment group with existing upstream shale interests in Texas.

"Pawnee moves our strategy from development into construction and ultimately operations," said Rich Adams, CEO of Ozona. He added that the project could expand as more CO2 sources connect.

The partners first announced joint development in September 2024. At the time, they aimed for a 2025 investment decision and 2026 operations.

How Does the Pawnee Project Move CO2 From Plant to Rock?

Pawnee captures CO2 at StarTex's Pawnee Treating Facility and sends it to a nearby injection well. The treating plant sits about 2 miles south of Pawnee, Texas.

An amine unit strips CO2 from produced natural gas. The resulting stream is 98.2% CO2, according to Ozona's EPA monitoring plan. It's dehydrated, compressed and piped straight to O'Neal Gas Unit No. 4.

The well injects into the Sligo Formation at 15,874 to 16,056 feet. That's about 14,924 feet below the base of underground drinking water, per the same plan.

The Pearsall Formation acts as the upper seal. Ozona reports that its injection test into the Sligo was successful.

Who Does What in the Ozona and Marubeni Partnership?

Ozona builds and operates the infrastructure, and Marubeni leads carbon credit marketing. Each partner owns 50% of the project.

Ozona brings subsurface, permitting and pipeline experience from the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford and Corpus Christi areas. Marubeni brings capital and global commercial reach.

Under the 2024 agreement, Marubeni also committed technical and financial help to secure pore space, permit wells and engineer facilities.

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How Much CO2 Can Pawnee Store?

Ozona's FID release says O'Neal Gas Unit No. 4 and its storage area have potential capacity of about 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. That figure describes the site's room to grow, not its starting volume.

The opening phase is sized to StarTex. Ozona's EPA plan describes a Class II acid gas injection permit application for up to 1.5 million standard cubic feet per day. That equals roughly 27,500 metric tons of CO2 per year over about 12 years.

Milestone or Metric	Detail
Class II permit application filed	September 2023, Railroad Commission of Texas
Joint venture announced	September 24, 2024
Final investment decision	October 27, 2026
First injection target	First quarter of 2027
StarTex-linked injection under the Class II plan	About 27,500 metric tons of CO2 per year
Potential site capacity	About 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year

The gap between those two numbers is the growth story. Both partners are evaluating more Texas storage sites, and Ozona says Pawnee could expand as new CO2 sources connect.

How Does the 45Q Credit Support Pawnee?

The federal 45Q credit pays up to $85 per metric ton for CO2 stored in dedicated geologic formations. Projects earn that full rate when they meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules.

Projects that skip those labor rules earn $17 per ton. This structure dates to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The credit runs for 12 years after capture equipment is placed in service.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, left the storage rate unchanged. It raised enhanced oil recovery and utilization to match it. Decarbonfuse covered those shifts in our 45Q explainer on the credit's new chapter.

The U.S. had 33 operational CCS projects and 19 under construction as of June 2025, according to the Global CCS Institute. More than 300 others were in development.

What Does Pawnee Signal for Commercial Storage in Texas?

Pawnee reached FID by pairing one steady gas-processing CO2 source with an existing well. Both partners are now evaluating more carbon storage opportunities in Texas.

Pawnee uses a Class II acid gas well, a category the Railroad Commission of Texas already administers. Texas also took over Class VI permitting in December 2025, as covered in how Texas bypassed the EPA backlog.

That handoff moved stalled carbon projects into state review. Larger sites like Oxy's Brown Pelican storage project now follow the same state path.

At the time of that June 2025 statement, 60 projects had filed 175 Class VI well applications with the EPA, per the Carbon Capture Coalition. In 2023, Ozona also reported a Permian Basin lease position with an estimated 120 million metric tons of pore space capacity.

Gulf Coast storage keeps gaining partners and capital, from the Corpus Christi carbon storage hub to direct air capture at Occidental's STRATOS facility. Decarbonfuse's recent look at 113 CCS projects and the Americas' capacity lead tracks that momentum.

Pawnee starts small and leaves room to grow. With a successful injection test, a repurposed well and a 2027 start target, it puts another commercial storage project on track in Texas.

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