Occidental Petroleum Corp. subsidiary Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC and Canadian clean energy firm Carbon Engineering Ltd. are proceeding with the engineering and design of a direct air capture and sequestration facility in the Permian Basin, slated to be the largest in the world.

The facility is designed to capture 500,000 tonnes of CO2 directly from the atmosphere per year, to be used in Occidental's enhanced oil recovery operations and stored underground permanently, according to a May 21 news release. The planned direct air capture facility is the first in the Permian Basin.

Construction is expected to begin in 2021 and is targeted to be operational within two years depending on the companies' approval.

The project can also be expanded to include multiple direct air capture plants that can each capture 1 million tonnes of atmospheric CO2 per year.