The oil company pivoting to carbon storage and data centers

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on POLITICO or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: California Resources Corporation (CRC), the state’s largest oil producer, is pivoting from oil extraction to carbon management and data centers
• CRC recently began injecting CO₂ underground at Elk Hills’ depleted reservoirs via Carbon TerraVault One, storing emissions from a nearby natural gas plant
• The company also proposes a 100-acre AI-focused data center campus powered by its underutilized 550 MW Elk Hills plant

🔭 The context: CRC’s strategy repurposes both subsurface expertise and existing oil infrastructure for emerging industries
• Carbon capture at Elk Hills is paired with Cal Capture, designed to decarbonize the power plant
• The data center project uses closed-loop cooling to minimize water use, avoids stress on the grid, and leverages private and federal incentives including California’s cap-and-invest program and the 45Q federal tax credit

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The initiative demonstrates a practical pathway for large-scale fossil fuel operators to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining energy output
• Permanent CO₂ storage in depleted reservoirs could offset substantial emissions, supporting California’s climate targets and providing a model for industrial-scale decarbonization of legacy energy infrastructure

⏭️ What’s next: CRC plans to advance both Carbon TerraVault One and its data center development in parallel, awaiting county permitting
• If successful, the approach could expand to other former oil fields, blending carbon storage with high-demand digital infrastructure while providing local economic benefits

💬 One quote: “We understand deeply how to operate in the subsurface…We are now putting those skills towards injecting carbon dioxide underground.” – Chris Gould, Chief Sustainability Officer, CRC

📈 One stat: CRC’s Elk Hills plant has 550 MW of underutilized capacity, sufficient to power a 100-acre data center campus off-grid

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