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Occidental Petroleum’s (NYSE:OXY) first direct air capture hub is on track to begin capturing carbon dioxide later this year, CEO Vicki Hollub said Thursday, according to UpstreamOnline.com.
Two capture trains at the Stratos facility in Texas are “moving over to operations” and have begun wet commissioning with water circulation, Hollub said on the company’s earnings conference call.
The CEO’s comments come shortly after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, which among various measures maintained and extended tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration, known as 45Q credits.
“This timing is perfect as there is growing momentum behind direct air capture to generate meaningful value from CO2 enhanced oil recovery, or EOR, in carbon dioxide removal credits,” Hollub said.
The company also is working on a joint venture with XRG, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to develop a DAC facility in south Texas, and Hollub confirmed that Occidental (NYSE:OXY) still plans the project toward a final investment decision.
“The timing is not set yet, but we will FID it,” the CEO said. “We’re going to take advantage of some of the innovations that are being developed right now in carbon engineering to make sure that we get that in the second facility, just like we’re getting it in phase two of the current facility.”
Occidental (OXY) finished +2.4% on Thursday after posting better than expected Q2 adjusted earnings and revenues, and announcing $950M in asset divestitures during the quarter, with $370M already closed.
The company’s Q2 total global production averaged 1.4M boe/day, exceeding the midpoint of guidance, with U.S. operations contributing 1.17M boe/day, including 770K boe/day from the Permian Basin.