US oil company to buy BC-based Carbon Engineering for $1.1 billion | Daily Hive

Carbon Engineering research hub in Squamish, BC. (Carbon Engineering)

American oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum will be acquiring British Columbia-based Carbon Engineering and its innovative proprietary technology in sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a tool against climate change.

The deal to acquire Carbon Engineering was announced Tuesday, with the fossil fuel giant providing about US$1.1 billion (C$1.49 billion) in cash. The deal is expected to be finalized before the end of this year.

Through the fossil fuel giant’s subsidiary of 1PointFive, Occidental Petroleum is already one of Carbon Engineering’s major partners. Since 2019, it has been working on the Canadian company’s direct air capture (DAC) deployment toward a large commercial industrial-scale, cost-effective solution to remove carbon dioxide in the air.

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“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Carbon Engineering team, which has been a leader in pioneering and advancing DAC technology,” said Vicki Hollub, the president and CEO of Occidental Petroleum.

“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.”

The 2015-built Carbon Engineering pilot plant on the Squamish waterfront. (Carbon Engineering)

Carbon Engineering will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, with Carbon Engineering’s research and development activities and innovation hub remaining in Squamish near Vancouver. Carbon Engineering built its first pilot plant in Squamish in 2015.

“Carbon Engineering and Occidental have been working increasingly close together for the past five years to address the carbon dioxide problem, making Occidental a trusted and committed partner for this next chapter in Carbon Engineering’s journey,” said Carbon Engineering CEO Daniel Friedmann.

“At the core of this deeper relationship is the commitment to invest in the development of our technology here in Canada, and the global reach to accelerate implementation of DAC-based climate solutions in the US and around the world.”

stratos direct air capture dac facility texas f

Artistic rendering of the Stratos commercial direct air capture facility in Texas, opening in 2025. (1PointFive)

Carbon Engineering is already involved with 1PointFive’s project of Stratos, which will be the world’s largest direct air capture plant when it begins its commercial operations in the middle of 2025 in Ector County, Texas. Construction first began in June 2023.

The learning from this initial commercial plant, which is expected to capture 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, will be used to build another plant in Kleberg County, also in Texas.

The company is also looking to turn its captured carbon dioxide into a relatively low-cost synthetic fuel that can replace fossil fuel sources.

Over the years, Carbon Engineering received funding from both the federal and provincial governments to help advance its research. Air Canada and Airbus are also amongst the company’s most recent private investors.

Some prominent early investors in Carbon Engineering include Bill Gates and Murray Edwards, as well as Chevron.

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