Jim Teague, Co Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Products Partners, said during the World Petroleum Congress  held last week in Houston, Texas that his company could repurpose some of its vast U.S. network of energy pipelines for carbon capture and sequestration projects.

Enterprise Products Partners is one of many companies in the energy sector, including ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum, which see carbon capture and sequestration as an emerging market opportunity, one that could conceivably lower their environmental footprint.

Teague, speaking at a panel with Charif Souki, chairman of liquefied natural gas development firm Tellurian, said one issue with repurposing its oil and gas pipelines for such projects is lack of transparency in carbon pricing.  Moreover, the  lack of clear regulatory guidelines is further slowing the development of the market.

Both Teague and Souki noted the role of oil and gas in alleviating poverty and admonished policy decisions being floated by U.S. lawmakers, including reimposing a ban on exporting U.S. crude oil, which they said could hurt global energy markets.

"What I’m concerned about is dysfunctionality and people not understanding what our position in the world [is]... [what] I’m concerned about the is the lack of policy and the lack of intelligence going into making policy,” Souki said.