Occidental Is First US Oil Major To Target Net Zero Emissions

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BNN Bloomberg: Occidental Petroleum Corp. became the first major U.S. oil producer to aim for net zero emissions from everything it extracts and sells, accelerating an industry trend that’s become commonplace in Europe. The Houston-based company announced a target to reach net zero emissions from its own operations by 2040 and an ambition to do the same from customers’ use of its products by 2050, Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub said during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. The plan relies heavily on capturing carbon dioxide and burying it, a technology that’s so far been prohibitively expensive. Occidental’s announcement is significant because the company has one of the biggest footprints in the Permian Basin, the sprawling oil field beneath Texas and New Mexico that produces more crude than any other region on the continent. […] Occidental is aiming to reduce all three categories of emissions. Scope 1 involves pollution emanating directly from company operations, while Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from utilities selling power to the company, and similar sources. Scope 3 — the category most U.S. oil drillers have so far excluded — involves pollution farthest removed from a company’s control, such as consumers burning refined fuels like gasoline. It would be the first major U.S. oil company to target Scope 3 emissions, according to BloombergNEF. “Key to achieving Occidental’s targets is building the world’s largest so-called direct-air capture plant in the Permian region,” the report adds. “The facility will pull CO2 from the air and concentrate it to be either stored underground or used to help push crude out of old wells.” “Occidental plans to use its carbon-capture business, named 1PointFive, to generate cash for investment in new facilities. The carbon-capture business probably will generate as much cash flow as Occidental’s chemicals business within 10 to 15 years.”