Good morning, here's what the Oilman has for you today:

• Oxy’s Love Affair with Carbon Capture

• Billionaire of the Week: Kelcy Warren Part 2: An industry leader

• Upcoming Oil and Gas Events

• Tweet of the Day

Oxy’s Love Affair with Carbon Capture

Earlier this month, the Biden administration threw a rock in the climate activism pool.

It pledged $1.2 billion for two carbon capture projects.

And one of them is led by an oil major.

Sucking carbon out of the air

Occidental Petroleum will receive about half of the total for its Texas project that will extract CO2 directly from the air.

The total investment the company has allocated for the facility is about $1 billion.

It claims that DAC, or direct air capture, will help it reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Which means DAC will help Oxy keep pumping oil and gas.

No wonder environmentalists are agitated.

And that’s just the beginning.

Oxy plans to build as many as 100 DAC facilities in the next 12 years or so.

Unproven, costly, and all-around suspicious

Opponents of carbon capture tech claim it is very expensive, which it is.

But it’s not like the other transition technologies are dirt cheap, either.

They also claim it has not been proven at scale, which it hasn’t.

But it’s a matter of time and determination to get proven at scale.

And, of course, they argue it will give a license to oil drillers to keep drilling.

Which is exactly right.

And it is the reason many critics claim the energy transition is not about emissions at all.

If it were, why not praise Oxy and others for developing carbon capture tech?

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Billionaire of the Week: Kelcy Warren part 2: An industry leader

From 200 to 125,000

When Warren started Energy Transfer Partners in 1996, the company had 200 miles of pipelines and 20 employees.

It operated as an intrastate natural gas pipeline company.

Over the next couple of decades, Energy Transfer expanded into 38 states, operating 90,000 miles of pipelines.

To date, the company operates close to 125,000 miles of pipelines.

It doesn’t just deal in natural gas, either.

The company is one of the top pipeline players in the country—and the world—overall.

And, of course, it is the operator of the notorious Dakota Access pipeline—the first piece of infrastructure to gain international fame.

Fastest way to growth

The way it all happened? Through acquisitions.

Energy Transfer, under the leadership of Kelcy Warren, has been among the most aggressive buyers in the industry.

Asset acquisitions and takeovers are a much faster way to grow your operations, and Warren knew it.

Energy Transfer has remained an aggressive buyer, with its deals from the last few years alone worth $14 billion.

Its latest deal, the $7.1-billion takeover of Crestwood Equity Partners, gave Energy Partners entry into the Powder River Basin.

Meanwhile, Warren has been raising his personal stake in the company.

There’s hardly a better way to demonstrate your belief in the longevity of your business.

The philanthropy life

Like all other oil billionaires, Warren is a generous giver.

His alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington, recently received its biggest single donation ever, at $12 million, from the founder of Energy Transfer.

With a personal wealth estimated by Forbes at $5 billion, Warren is yet another example of the hero’s journey from humble beginnings to the top of the industry.

Upcoming Oil & Gas Events

• August 28-September 1: International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy Houston, TX

• August 31: ND Oil PAC Golf Tournament Bully Pulpit Golf Course, Medora, ND

• September 7: Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma Dove Hunt, Devol, OK

Around the Global Patch

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🇨🇳 Controversy swirls around China's role in UK mega wind farm.
🇷🇺 Chevron Australia braces for disruption amid confirmed strike.

Tweet of the Day

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