Carbon removal is the next big fossil fuel boom, oil company says
1 min read
Summary
Oil firm Occidental sees carbon capture as key to bolstering fossil fuel production, and although such strategies are often seen as a viable solution to climate change, they do not tackle the root cause of the problem – burning fossil fuels, and regarding the capture and storage (CCS) of CO2, questions surround its safety and long-term effectiveness.
Vicki Hollub, the firm’s president and CEO, said that employing CO2 in enhanced oil recovery could yield 50 to 70 billion barrels of reserves, and referred to the use of captured CO2 in this way as the “biggest boon for fossil fuels since fracking”.
The use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery sees CO2 pumped into depleting oil fields to extract hard-to-reach reserves, however, Occidental’s enhanced oil production has slumped in recent years, and the high cost of US carbon capture initiatives – a number of which are slated to begin production this year – means their future lies in the hands of a pro-oil Trump administration, should it maintain Biden-era tax credits for the technology.