The CO2 shortage is nothing new in the industry having first bubbled up in 2020. But a new contamination at the Jackson Dome, which is owned by independent energy company Denbury, is tightening supplies even further. The Jackson Dome is Denbury’s primary source of CO2 for the Gulf Coast region.
According to the industry publication gasworld, the recently discovered contamination includes hydrocarbons, including benzene, which are impacting the purity of the CO2 and forcing cutbacks in supplies. But the Jackson Dome contamination will have a relatively small impact on the brewing industry since it is not the primary source of the nation’s CO2. Most food-grade CO2 used by the beer industry, and other food and beverage industries is a byproduct of industrial processes and not naturally occurring.
Regardless, the tight supply of carbon dioxide has hit the mainstream press in recent days, adding to the anxiety among craft brewers. An August 3rd NBC News story focused on one brewery that cited the current CO2 shortage as the reason for its pending closure. The story “hit the wires” and was picked up by numerous media outlets across the country, suggesting that craft breweries were going out of business due to the shortage in CO2. The article reported that Night Shift Brewing in Massachusetts had “cited the CO2 shortage as the reason it is suspending operations at its longtime facility and outsourcing to nearby locations instead.” Similar stories ran in the New York Post, the Washington Post, The Boston Globe and others.
More on the shortage here.