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Houston-based oil company Occidental Petroleum and the NFL's Houston Texans are striking a unique partnership focused on carbon reduction.
The Texans have agreed to purchase carbon dioxide removal credits from Occidental (NYSE: OXY) subsidiary 1PointFive, which is currently building a direct air capture project in West Texas. 1PointFive also inked a sponsorship agreement with the Texans to become the team's "Preferred Carbon Removal Partner," the parties announced Jan. 6.
"We are proud to partner with 1PointFive and welcome them to our Houston Texans family," said Houston Texans Vice President of Corporate Development Jerry Angel.
1PointFive's first commercial-scale direct air capture plant is under construction in Ector County, Texas. The $1.1 billion project aims to capture 500,000 metric tons of atmospheric CO2 per year. Some of that CO2 would be permanently stored in underground formations, while some would be used for enhanced oil recovery.
Under the agreement with the Texans, CO2 captured by 1PointFive's DAC plant will be sequestered in saline reservoirs not associated with oil and gas production, Oxy said. The carbon removal credits will allow the Texans to offset the estimated CO2 emissions from the team's air travel to regular season away games for three seasons.
"We believe Direct Air Capture is an efficient way to help reduce an organization’s carbon footprint and provides a solution that is particularly well-suited to addressing carbon emissions associated with air travel," said 1PointFive President and General Manager Michael Avery.
Despite hopes for improvement on the field during the 2022-2023 season, the Texans are one of the worst-performing teams in the NFL with a record of 2-13-1. But the team is vying for first in something: the first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Oxy looks to scale DAC
Oxy sees DAC as a major part of its Low Carbon Ventures business strategy. The company said it expects to have around 100 DAC projects online by 2035.
Speaking during a third-quarter earnings call with analysts, Oxy President and CEO Vicki Hollub said provisions passed under the Inflation Reduction Act last year will accelerate the company's low-carbon strategy and the voluntary carbon reduction market.
The first DAC plant in the Permian Basin is expected to come online in late 2024. In addition to the Texans, the Ector County project has received investment from Chicago-based carrier United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) and Netherlands-based jet-maker Airbus SE.
In October, 1PointFive and King Ranch Inc. inked a lease agreement to support up to 30 DAC projects on 160,000 acres within King Ranch in Kleberg County, Texas.
1PointFive is a joint venture between Oxy and private equity firm Rushdeen Capital. 1PointFive’s direct air capture technology comes from British Columbia-based company Carbon Engineering.
