1PointFive Selected for U.S. Department of Energy Grant to Develop South Texas Direct Air Capture Hub

HOUSTON, Aug. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 1PointFive, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental, announced today it was selected to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) for the development of its South Texas Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hub. The hub, to be located on the King Ranch in Kleberg County, is expected to include the world’s first DAC plant designed to remove up to 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per year.

The selection enables 1PointFive to enter award negotiations with OCED and work in partnership to establish the South Texas DAC Hub. OCED funding will support 1PointFive’s development of the DAC Hub through the advancement of planning, detailed design, environmental permitting and procurement of long-lead equipment.

“We appreciate the U.S. Department of Energy’s leadership to advance Direct Air Capture and look forward to our partnership to deploy this vital carbon removal technology at climate-relevant scale and establish the United States and 1PointFive as global leaders in demonstrating the commercial viability of DAC,” said President and CEO Vicki Hollub. “We believe this selection validates our readiness, technical maturity and the ability to use Oxy’s expertise in large projects and carbon management to move the technology forward so it can reach its full potential.”

1PointFive’s lease agreement for the South Texas DAC Hub with King Ranch covers approximately 106,000 acres of pore space estimated to accommodate up to 3 billion metric tons of CO₂ in saline formations. 1PointFive estimates that the Hub has the potential to remove and store up to 30 million metric tons of CO₂ per year through DAC. The property is located near industrial emitters on the Texas Gulf Coast, where CO₂ also can be captured, transported and securely sequestered at the Hub.

1PointFive, along with its partners Carbon Engineering and Worley, is working on the front-end engineering and design for the first DAC plant slated for the South Texas Hub. The design is being adapted from Stratos, 1PointFive’s first commercial-scale DAC plant under construction in the Permian Basin. Preparations are underway to drill test wells at the South Texas Hub site to gather geologic data required to obtain a Class VI well permit to safely sequester CO₂.