Occidental Petroleum is to buy the remaining equity of Carbon Engineering for US$1.1 billion, after a deal was agreed in mid-August.

Carbon Engineering specialises in direct air capture (DAC) technology, in which carbon dioxide is typically extracted from the atmosphere, rather than from CO₂-rich flue gases, and the outlay on Occidental’s part is an interesting sign of its belief that there will be profit to be made from DAC. Indeed, the oil and gas company aims to build as many as 100 DAC plants, though the Reuters report does not detail when or of what size.

More commercially unproven than point-source carbon capture and storage, DAC nevertheless is seen as an important technology in mitigating climate change by the US federal government, with the Department of Energy recently announcing over US$1 billion in funding for two projects that will, if successful, together remove more than 2 million (metric) tonnes of CO₂ annually.

One of those projects, the South Texas DAC Hub in Kleberg County, Texas, was proposed by Occidental’s subsidiary 1PointFive together with Carbon Engineering and Worley.