In the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the racing heart of the U.S. shale oil boom, there is generally not too much soul-searching about the implications for the climate of their production. The availability of truck drivers and pipeline capacity for transporting the oil to market are much more pressing concerns.
Occidental Petroleum Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. oil group by market capitalization and the holder of the largest net acreage of drilling rights in the Permian Basin, is an exception.
Like its rivals including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., Occidental is one of the key participants in that production boom. In the past three years, it has more than doubled its Permian shale output, and it expects to double it again to 600,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the next five years. But at the same time, the company is committed to reducing its carbon footprint.
This post appeared first on Hart Energy.