Leaders of Occidental Petroleum and Pioneer Natural Resources said last week their companies will end routine flaring by 2030. Vicki Hollub, president and CEO, told energy research firm IHS Markit in Washington, D.C., Dec. 2 that Oxy will transform into a “carbon management company” and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century by relying on direct air capture and carbon storage sites. “We are leveraging our expertise in carbon management and storage,” Hollub said. Oxy plans to begin construction in 2022 on the world’s largest commercial-scale direct air CO2 capture facility on a 100-acre site in Permian Basin.
Pioneer president and CEO Scott D. Sheffield said his company also is targeting a 25 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions per unit of oil and natural gas production by 2030. Bloomberg said Pioneer “will cut the amount of pollution per barrel of oil produced rather than the absolute amount of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere.” In a report issued Dec. 2, Pioneer also pledged to cut methane intensity by 40 percent by 2030.