For Louisiana to regain competitiveness on a national scale, there must be an effort to diversify and expand industries in the state. Fresh opportunities in industries such as oil and gas, timber, and manufacturing are attracting investors from all over the globe to the Bayou State. One critically important sector for Louisiana’s competitiveness is the energy sector. Louisiana saw tremendous growth over the last century in the energy space, specifically the oil and gas industry. Now that industry is looking to expand in safer ways, including through Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS). This technology offers a dynamic variety of possibilities for the state of Louisiana.
Louisiana State University (LSU) is home to the Center for Energy Studies. Most of Center for Energy Studies’ funding comes from the Louisiana State Legislature through LSU, in addition to sponsored research through federal and state agencies, as well as private industry. Ultimately, the Center for Energy Studies is the gold standard in Louisiana as far as producing neutral analysis on the energy sector. The LSU Center for Energy Studies is led by Executive Director and Associate Professor Greg Upton.
According to the 2025 Gulf Coast Energy Outlook (GCEO), “Oil and gas production in the Gulf Coast region is anticipated to continue to increase through the forecast horizon … For Louisiana, GCEO anticipates that employment related to oil and gas, such as work in carbon capture and sequestration will continue its upward trajectory.” The GCEO goes on to predict a 1.2% growth in jobs in Louisiana in this sector from 2025 to 2027 alone, and this is just the beginning.
In a recent April 2025 webinar titled, “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage,” Upton notes that “decarbonization represents a tremendous opportunity.” In a March 2023 publication, Upton said, “The Gulf Coast economy relies heavily on industrial activity, particularly that activity associated with energy manufacturing.” These two sentiments, years apart, show the momentum that has been building around energy manufacturing in Louisiana, and with the global effort to decarbonize energy production, CCS is primed to take a leading role in the industry.
The publication continues, “In 2020 energy-based manufacturing wages were approximately 25 percent higher than U.S. manufacturing in aggregate,” clearly demonstrating the value of energy-based manufacturing for those who work in this sector.
Why Louisiana?
Louisiana’s economy and geology create an ideal environment for CCUS industry expansion. In terms of economy, the Gulf Coast and more specifically the Bayou State serves as a global leader in exports of liquid fuels, chemicals, polymers, and fertilizers. LSU’s Cain Department of Chemical Engineering notes that “from 2011 to 2021, Louisiana added $87 billion in investment in these sectors, and as a result exports of these products and employment have increased.” As a result of the state’s sizable industrial base, “approximately two-thirds of Louisiana’s GHG emissions (which includes CO2) come from industrial sources. For comparison, nationwide industrial GHG emissions make up less than 20 percent.”
Federal tax credits for CCUS—also known as “45Q” tax credits—make investing in this space particularly attractive at this time. These industries that have served as the backbone for Louisianans for decades emit large amounts of carbon. As the nation calls for cleaner ways to continue industrial expansion, CCUS emerges as an ideal technology to ensure safer, healthier growth. Geologically speaking, experts have indicated that much of Louisiana, especially the Central Louisiana region “has very good geology for storage.”
‘A unique opportunity’
Deborah Randolph, President, Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce told this publication, “The Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce supports Governor Jeff Landry and the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LED) in supporting both new energy projects and major investments in innovative technologies such as advanced fuels, chemicals and electricity production that rely on carbon capture and storage for their success.”
Randolph went on to state, “Louisiana has a unique opportunity to attract new advanced manufacturing facilities that use carbon capture and sequestration. These companies are locating their new facilities in Louisiana, because of favorable geology for sequestration and because our state has been granted primacy by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the permitting of Class VI wells. Louisiana is one of only three states approved to regulate all underground wells. Another advantage is Louisiana’s existing network of nearly 50,000 miles of integrated pipelines crisscrossing every major highway, railroad and navigable waterway in the state, with some of the pipeline system already transporting CO2.”
Randolph added, “To date, according to LED, newly announced advanced manufacturing facilities that will be using carbon capture-related capital investments total approximately $23 billion, with 4,500 projected new jobs which will result in increased local and state tax revenues.”
Additionally, according to Randolph, “Louisiana’s advantage from the planned build out of CO2 sequestration wells and pipelines is one of the keys to bringing new advanced fuel and energy production to the state, including the central Louisiana region where several large wood-fiber-to-advanced fuel projects are being developed, helping to revitalize the economies in regions of the state where working forests are located.” She went on to note that, “Many parishes with working forests in Louisiana have both the underutilized wood resources and geology to support CO2 sequestration; each are critical for the advanced biofuel production plants to be successful. These new facilities will create thousands of jobs to offset the shrinking pulp and paper industry, and their products compete directly with China in newly formed global clean fuel markets.”
In closing, Randolph stated, “The Central LA Regional Chamber of Commerce looks forward to working with our economic development partner, Louisiana Central to support Governor Landry, LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois, and our Legislators to bring CCUS and related biofuel and energy production projects to fruition to create jobs and grow the economy to benefit the people of our state.”
