Occidental Petroleum, BlackRock form joint venture to develop Stratos

Occidental (OXY) announced that BlackRock (BLK) will invest $550M on behalf of clients in the development of Stratos, the world’s largest Direct Air Capture, or DAC, facility, in Ector County, Texas. Through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business, BlackRock has signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture with Occidental through its subsidiary 1PointFive that will own Stratos. Stratos is designed to capture up to 500,000 tons of CO2 per year. Construction activities for Stratos are approximately 30% complete and the facility is expected to be commercially operational in mid-2025. The project is expected to employ more than 1,000 people during the construction phase and up to 75 once operational.