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November 04, 2024

Inside Oxy's climate tech gamble in Texas

Fuel Fix: News and insight on the energy industry.

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Employees work on Statos, a carbon capture facility by Occidental in West Texas on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 in Ector County.

Photo by: Elizabeth Conley(Staff Photographer)

In the air

A first of its kind facility is taking shape in West Texas. Houston-based Occidental Petroleum is putting the finishing touches on "Stratos," a project which aims to start sucking climate-warming carbon dioxide from the air and storing it underground next spring.

The project is part of a global race to engineer a way out of a climate crisis by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Driving the effort are tax credits included in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, as well as growing demand from big tech companies such as Google and Microsoft, which are searching for ways to offset their growing carbon footprints. 

A lot is riding on the company's success. Oxy aims to prove that the technology works, that the company can make money from it and that it's safe.

The budding industry is an opportunity for Houston, too, as the oil and gas industry employs fewer and fewer people in the region.

Photo of Amanda Drane

Amanda Drane, Energy Reporter

amanda.drane@houstonchronicle.com

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Photo by: Courtesy Photo, NextDecade Corp.

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The number of people expected to be laid off as a result of Marathon Oil's merger with ConocoPhillips.

Photo by: Lauren Mitchell

     


What We're Reading

Clean energy is booming in the U.S., but the election could change that, the New York Times reports.

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