Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters). Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE): The company presented Tuesday that it estimates that there will soon be a market of $4 trillion for carbon dioxide capture and underground storage.

It is roughly 60% of US crude oil producers’ estimates for the market worth $6.5 trillion in oil and natural gas.

According to the International Energy Agency, carbon capture is an important technology for reducing emissions. This involves the extraction of carbon dioxide from industrial processes or fuel combustion, and transporting it by ship or pipeline to store underground in geological formations, or as a resource for creating products.

As international organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC), point out the importance of carbon capture and storage technology to reduce the impacts of global warming, large oil companies have invested to do so.

Exxon faces public pressure to cut its emissions because its energy transition strategy doesn’t include renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Exxon recently appointed Dan Ammann to head its Low Carbon Business, which will be launched on May 1st. Ammann was the former leader of General Motors Co’s Cruise self-driving unit (NYSE:).

Occidental Petroleum, the U.S.-based oil producer, is currently developing the largest CO2 extraction project in the world. It has been previously estimated that CCS could be a global $3-5 trillion industry. Vicki Hollub, chief executive of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:), stated that the technology would generate more earnings and cash flows than oil or gas.