Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters] Occidental Petroleum Corp said Thursday it had agreed to sell offset carbon credits for jet-maker Airbus as part of a deal which advances the U.S.’s growing energy transition business.

The agreement, which covers four years, allows Occidental (NYSE) to make an investment decision in the largest carbon dioxide plant on the planet. It will be used to trap and bury CO2 (CO2) underground. This would help to reduce global warming.

The agreement’s total value was not revealed. Occidental will provide an update to investors on Wednesday about its low-carbon business.

Occidental stated that construction of its direct-air capture (DAC), facility will begin during the second half this year. It is located in the Permian Basin, which contains the largest U.S. shale field in Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It is not known where the plant will be located.

According to the International Energy Agency, it is predicted that this plant will have a 100-fold higher carbon removal capability than any of the 19 DAC plants worldwide.

The estimated cost of this project is unknown. Construction is expected to last approximately two years.

Occidental’s air-to-air capture facility has a goal to remove 1,000,000 tonnes CO2 annually from the atmosphere. This is equivalent to nearly 200,000 car emissions. A project in Iceland able to remove emissions from 790 cars https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/worlds-largest-plant-capturing-carbon-air-starts-iceland-2021-09-08 was considered the world’s largest one year ago.

Airbus purchased the permanent capture and permanent storage of 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually for four years. The option of securing more volumes in future is available, Occidental stated. 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental, was responsible for the signing.