June 29, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Manulife Investment Management (MIM) and 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental’s Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV) business, announced their entering into a lease agreement on 27,000 acres of timberland in Western Louisiana as the foundation for a carbon capture and sequestration project. 

Through this agreement, 1PointFive will gain access to subsurface pore space and surface rights to develop and operate a carbon sequestration hub with the ability to permanently store industrial carbon emissions. In support of this, two Class VI injection permits, required by the EPA for geologic sequestration, have already been filed for the site.

In a broader scope, this lease agreement is an important step in 1PointFive’s strategic goal to develop carbon capture and sequestration hubs – some of which will be anchored by Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities (direct air carbon capture is the concept that carbon can be captured from air via industrial or chemical processes).

“We are excited to join with Manulife and lease the acreage to develop a hub that will provide sequestration infrastructure and services for industrial emitters and 1PointFive’s future DAC facilities,” said Dr. Doug Conquest, vice president, OLCV.

“This agreement strengthens our CCUS [carbon capture, utilization, and storage] position and advances commercial-scale decarbonization solutions in line with Oxy’s (Occidental’s) net-zero goals.”

MIM manages a timberland portfolio of truly global proportions, totaling approximately 6 million acres across the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Chile. It also manages approximately 400,000 acres of prime farmland assets in major production regions across the U.S., Canada, Chile, and Australia.

Together, 1PointFive and MIM stated that they continue to explore additional locations and projects for carbon removal and sequestration throughout the U.S. for this purpose.

“We understand the importance our forests and underlying land play as a natural climate solution in decarbonization,” said Eduardo Hernandez, managing director and global head of timberland operations, Manulife Investment Management.

“We focus on sustainably managing our forests for climate-positive and nature-positive impact, and we are excited to find additional opportunities to continue this work for clients.”

1PointFive noted that MIM’s acreage offers optimal storage capacity within close proximity to point source industrial emitters, which would otherwise emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, adding recognition for New Dawn Energy – a MIM land lease partner – which have been cooperative and supportive of this project.

1PointFive also made note that it adheres to U.S. EPA standards for monitoring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) the amount, safety, and permanence of CO2 stored through secure geologic sequestration, and that its affiliates hold three EPA-approved MRV plans for geologic sequestration, concluding that it will bring the totality of this expertise to bear on the safe design and operation of this project.

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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