44 TEXAS JOURNAL OF OIL , GAS , AND ENERGY LAW [ Vol . 16:1
5 . Minimum Term Considerations ............................................... 75 IV . CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 75
Recent amendments to section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 , as amended ( Section 45Q ), have created new opportunities for energy infrastructure stakeholders seeking to employ carbon capture , utilization , and storage ( CCUS ) technology in the United States . 1 CCUS is generally a process in which carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) is captured at its source rather than released into the atmosphere . The application of this technology allows CO 2 emissions generated from the operation of industrial manufacturing , power , or processing plants to be captured at the plants ’ exhaust stack instead of discharged into the atmosphere . Separate , but similar , technologies are in development to capture and remove CO 2 directly from the ambient air rather than from the exhaust stack of an industrial source . As that technology develops , CCUS projects may start to incorporate direct air capture technology to harvest CO 2 for use , storage , or both in the same fashion as they use CO 2 captured from industrial processes . 2 The captured CO 2 may be utilized to create , or enhance the production of , other forms of energy or products . Alternatively , the CO 2 may be permanently sequestered in an underground reservoir or formation .
In evaluating the scope of the opportunities for CCUS projects , it is interesting to note that the Energy Information Administration ( EIA ) reported that the United States reached a record high consumption of 101.3 quadrillion Btu from all energy sources in 2018 . 3 Such energy consumption is 4 % greater than the U . S . energy consumption in 2017 and 0.3 % above the previous record set in 2007 . 4 The EIA estimates that in 2017 over 1,500 million tons of CO 2 were re-
1 . Note : The process of capturing CO 2 emissions from an industrial source or removing it from the air has also been referred to as Carbon Capture Sequestration and Storage ( CCSS ) and Carbon Capture and Storage ( CCS ). For purposes of this paper , the authors have chosen to refer to this process as CCUS , as defined above , which highlights that captured CO 2 has a large number of beneficial uses . As used herein , CCUS is intended to refer to any industrial process that incorporates the capture , removal , use , or storage of CO 2 .
2 . In August 2020 , Oxy Low Carbon Ventures , LLC ( a subsidiary of Oxy ) and Runsheen Capital Management announced a newly formed development company named “ 1PointFive .” The company will develop and operate a large-scale direct air capture facility in the Permian Basin . The facility is slated to become the largest direct air capture facility in the world and aims to capture up to 1 million metric tons of CO 2 from the atmosphere each year . The project ’ s executive management hopes that its efforts will help meet the targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change while also creating a sustainable low-carbon economy . “ We have an ambitious goal for 1PointFive — to help the world limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees — but we also have a powerful and practical vision for what needs to be done .” Carbon Engineering , Oxy Low Carbon Ventures , Rusheen Capital Management Create Development Company 1PointFive to Deploy Carbon Engineering ’ s Direct Air Capture Technology , GLOBE NEWSWIRE ( Aug . 19 , 2020 ), https :// www . globenews wire . com / news-release / 2020 / 08 / 19 / 2080502 / 0 / en / Oxy-Low-Carbon-Ventures-Rusheen-Capital- Management-create-development-company-1PointFive-to-deploy-Carbon-Engineering-s-Direct-Air- Capture-technology . html .
3 . In 2018 , the United States Consumed More Energy than Ever Before , U . S . ENERGY INFO . AD-
MIN .: TODAY IN ENERGY ( Apr . 16 , 2019 ), http :// eia . gov / todayinenergy / detail . php ? id = 39092 . 4 . Id .