Christine Irvin with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, who is serving as construction lead for the project, estimated 13 miles of road is being built to the site off Highway 302 and some county roads are being upgraded at the same time.

Completion and commissioning of the plant is expected in late 2024, and the site is expected to go commercial in mid-2025. Once up and running, the plant will employ up to 75. Irvin noted that, in addition, support jobs will be created – from the taco trucks which serve the workers breakfast and lunch to equipment vendors.

Michael Avery, president of the Occidental subsidiary 1PointFive, said the plant, the first of up to 100 that could be deployed worldwide in the next decade, is a logical extension of the company’s 50-year history managing and utilizing carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery. Initially, the plant is expected to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year with the ability to scale up to 1 million metric tons per year.

In a telephone interview with the Reporter-Telegram, Avery referred to Occidental’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations before 2040 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report that methods exist now to reduce emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.

“When you look at the target we put out and how the IPCC put it, what is increasingly becoming apparent is we must remove CO2 and, in addition, remove CO2 from the source. Being able to do so at scale is important,” he said.

Situating the first plant in the Permian Basin alongside Occidental’s existing infrastructure not only provides the company with CO2 for use in its enhanced oil recovery activities – helping the company produce low-carbon or zero-carbon oil – but the capacity to sequester CO2 in the Permian’s wealth of geologic formations.

The DAC technology is not a replacement for mitigation but can play a critical piece, Avery said, and is needed to not only help Occidental meet its net-zero goals but other companies to decarbonize as well.

Occidental partnered with Carbon Engineering, a climate solutions company, because the company’s direct air capture of CO2 could be done at scale. That will also help lower costs, Avery noted.

“The DAC is an ecosystem being set up. We need to develop the technology to be commercially feasible and deploy at scale,” Avery said. “The world needs to believe this is a viable solution.”

Policy incentives contained in the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have helped accelerate the project, unlocking funding and providing support for the revenue side, said Avery.

“They’ve helped derisk the financial model and let us move faster,” he said.

He acknowledged that there are other companies emerging with their own direct air capture technology, something he called encouraging because it’s important good technology be developed.