Occidental Petroleum’s plan to begin operating the world’s largest carbon removal facility has hit an unexpected delay, with company leaders saying they’re uncertain how soon the problems can be fixed.
The latest setback for Stratos, a direct air capture megaproject in West Texas, was announced Wednesday during the company’s quarterly earnings call. Occidental had initially hoped to have the plant online by the end of 2024.
Stratos is designed to use fans, heat and carbon-dioxide-absorbing materials to pull 500,000 metric tons of CO2 from the skies annually. By comparison, the largest DAC plant in operation today is capable of removing 36,000 tons per year.
Richard Jackson, Occidental’s chief operating officer, told analysts that construction of Stratos was mostly finished. The company had begun testing the first of the plant’s two units, and “the technology and process unit operations performed as expected,” said Jackson, who will begin leading the company when CEO Vicki Hollub retires at the end of this month.
