The real reason why oil and gas companies are bullish on carbon capture

Two years ago, oil and gas company Occidental bought carbon capture startup Carbon Engineering. The transaction was hailed as a win-win: A climate tech company scored a significant exit, and a fossil fuel company gained a foothold in a sector that could be worth up to $150 billion by 2050. Now we have a better idea why Occidental was keen to pick up the pricey technology: They want to use it to pump more oil. Previously, the company had said it would use the technology to zero out its climate impact. Yet on Occidental’s earnings call this week, CEO Vicki Hollub changed the tune, saying that injecting CO 2 into wells to force out more oil was imperative to boosting oil production. “Taking CO 2 out of the atmosphere is a technology that needs to work for the United States, and President Trump knows the business case for this,” Hollub said. The Verge was the first to report on the comments. Hollub compared using CO 2 in enhanced oil recovery to fracking, the technology that sent U.S. ... Read full article.