Investment management company BlackRock will invest $500m to support the development of Stratos, an Ector County, Texas-based direct air capture (DAC) plant believed to be the world’s largest.
Through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business, BlackRock signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture with Occidental through its subsidiary 1PointFive that will own Stratos.
Stratos is designed to capture up to 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. Construction activities are currently around 30% complete, with commercial start-up scheduled for mid-2025.
Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental, said the joint venture demonstrates that DAC is becoming an investable technology, and that Occidental is excited to partner with them.
DAC technology captures and removes large volumes of CO2 directly from the atmosphere, which can be safely and securely stored deep underground in geologic formations. DAC is expected to provide a solutions for companies in hard-to-decarbonise industries to use in conjunction with their own emissions reduction programmes.
To date, 1PointFive has signed CO2 removal credit purchase agreements with customers, including Amazon, Airbus, All Nippon Airways (ANA), TD Bank Group, the Houston Astros, and the Houston Texans.
Read more: Amazon signs 10-year carbon removal credit purchase deal with 1PointFive
Read more: All Nippon Airways signs carbon removal credit deal with 1PointFive
Read more: Toronto-Dominion Bank Group signs carbon removal credit deal with 1PointFive
Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, added, “Stratos represents an incredible investment opportunity for BlackRock’s clients to invest in this unique energy infrastructure project and underscores the critical role of US energy companies in climate technology innovation.”
Decarbonisation Summit 2024: Industrial Gases and Clean Energies 3.0
The global industrial gas and equipment business has an imperative role to play in the future of clean fuels and decarbonisation. The energy transition simply won’t happen without it.
At the same time, the industry has its own activities to decarbonise and circular economies to carve out – think green air gases and bio-based carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as CO2 utilisation and e-fuels, and so much more besides.
There are pathways to progress and questions to answer on this journey, not least:
- What are the compelling clean fuels and what do the pathways to production look like?
- How can the gases industry participate in this playground of opportunities?
- What are the tools and technologies that will accelerate decarbonisation?
- What can other alternative fuels mean for the CO2 industry and its stakeholders?
All of these questions and more will be in the spotlight at gasworld’s Decarbonisation Summit in April 2024. This is the Net Zero event for you, held in New York against the backdrop of the progressive US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and with the world’s gaze watching on.
Interested in speaking and contributing? Get in touch with our Content Director, Rob Cockerill, at [email protected]
To attend, sponsor and for more information, visit https://www.gasworldconferences.com/conference/decarbonisation-summit-2024/
