Occidental Petroleum has agreed to acquire Carbon Engineering for $1.1 billion, aiming to develop carbon-capture sites for environmental gain. The U.S. oil producer plans to construct about 100 direct air capture (DAC) plants that extract CO2 from the atmosphere, targeting storage or use in products like fuel and concrete. Though DAC technology is in early commercial stages and demands substantial investment, President Biden sees it as key to emission reduction. Recent federal grants will partially fund Occidental's DAC plants in Texas and Louisiana, the first beneficiaries of a $3.5 billion authorization for DAC hubs, according to a Reuters story. Occidental and Carbon Engineering have collaborated on DAC since 2019, with the acquisition aimed at streamlining partnerships, according to CEO Vicki Hollub.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Carbon Engineering team, which has been a leader in pioneering and advancing DAC technology,” Hollub said in an Aug. 15 press release. “Together, Occidental and Carbon Engineering can accelerate plans to globally deploy DAC technology at a climate-relevant scale and make DAC the preferred solution for businesses seeking to remove their hard-to-abate emissions.”