In concert with its 1PointFive subsidiary, the Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. is building what it says will the world’s biggest direct air carbon capture plant 35 miles west of Odessa in Ector County.
When it opens late next year, the plant will capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year with the capability to scale up to one million metric tons per year, company spokesman William Fitzgerald said, adding that captured carbon “can be safely and securely sequestered in saline formations or used to produce low carbon products.
“The plant will advance large-scale carbon capture to help Oxy and others reduce emissions and accelerate their respective paths to net zero,” Fitzgerald said.
He said the project will employ more than 1,000 men during the construction phase and up to 75 when the plant becomes operational.
“1PointFive has announced a scenario to deploy approximately 100 DAC facilities worldwide by 2035 under current compliance and market scenarios,” Fitzgerald said.
Oxy President-CEO Vikki Hollub said the construction of Oxy’s first DAC plant “is an important milestone on the pathway to achieving our net-zero ambitions and helping the world meet the Paris Agreement’s climate goals.”
Richard Jackson, president of Oxy’s U.S. onshore resources and carbon management, said the project “begins our journey toward providing commercial-scale DAC solutions that reduce and remove carbon emissions.
“This plant’s development is rooted in our carbon management expertise, strong record of delivering major projects and existing infrastructure that supports the commercialization of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies,” Jackson said. “This plant could also anchor future low carbon projects and strengthen our portfolio of carbon management.”
A key participant is the Carbon Engineering Corp. of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, whose CEO, Daniel Friedmann, said the project “marks a pivotal moment in the deployment of our large-scale direct air capture solutions.
“The plant is expected to provide cost-effective solutions that hard-to-decarbonize industries can use in conjunction with their own emissions reduction programs to help achieve net zero,” Friedmann said. “Captured carbon dioxide can be safely sequestered deep underground in saline formations or used in the production of hydrocarbons to enable lower-carbon or net-zero transportation fuels and in products like chemicals and building materials.”
Fitzgerald said 1PointFive has advanced product sales including carbon removal credit purchases from Airbus, Shopify and ThermoFisher and that Oxy has reached an agreement with SK Trading International for an opportunity to purchase net-zero oil.
“We have also entered into an agreement with Origis Energy to provide zero-emission solar power for the DAC plant and other projects in the Permian Basin,” he said. “The Inflation Reduction Act’s increased incentives will further accelerate DAC deployment as a solution to help achieve net zero.”
