No. of Recommendations: 6
Some here may be unaware that Berkshire is an indirect owner in Netpower (NPWR).
As of April of this year, OXY owns approximately 39% of the company.
https://netpower.com/net-power-and-rice-acquisitio...With Berkshire's ownership of 25% of OXY's common plus warrants plus preferred Berkshire indirectly holds +/- 10% of NPWR.
NPWR has developed and demonstrated a new technology that generates electricity at low cost using natural gas with essentially zero emissions. This "net zero" gas fired electricity will ultimately supply power to OXY's Direct Air Capture (DAC)units, as well as to other oil field operations (drilling rigs, artificial lift, pumps and other field power requirements). The latter will allow OXY to fully transition toward zero surface emission field operation. NPWR's process produces nearly pure CO2 as a by-product which, in turn, is combined with the DAC CO2 stream and then sequestered into underground reservoirs (with a government incentive).
At the link below there's an 8/14/23 webcast of NPWR's Q2 update summarizing the company's history, technology and the huge addressable market. I suggest a listen. The potential for this company to radically change power generation in this country will be apparent. One would suppose BHE are watching this one closely.
Danny Rice NPWR CEO: (14:34 min):
"..the Inflation Reduction Act 45Q provides $85/ton for each ton of CO2 (emitted by their process?) that is sequestered. This incentive will be key to catalyzing demand, which in turn enables us to scale up and reduce our plant Capex over time. In time, we expect the cost of the plant to be fully underwritten just by the 45Q. So think about that for a second, and how profound that can be. Clean reliable power is free upside."https://ir.netpower.com Natural gas production, associated with oil production, in the Permian Basin continues to grow. Prices for natural gas in the Permian are low. Previously the gas was flared as a waste product, but regulators are now putting a stop to it. In many cases the gas is being given away after processing and transportation costs out of the basin are paid.
https://aegis-hedging.com/insights/basis-brief-wah...If it works, cheap Permian natural gas will soon be used to power OXY's DAC efforts as well as electrification of their oilfield reducing emissions.
Occidental (NYSE: OXY), NET Power's largest shareholder, is an international energy company with 50 years of experience in large-scale CO2 transportation, use and storage. Occidental is applying its carbon management experience to advance new low carbon initiatives to help achieve net-zero emissions in its operations and help others do the same. As previously announced, Occidental will host NET Power's first utility-scale plant (SN1) at its operations near Odessa, Texas in the Permian Basin.
...
Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental, said,
'We are excited to support this transaction, which will further NET Power's commercialization plans and help achieve decarbonization goals globally. We first invested in NET Power because we believe the technology can accelerate Oxy's efforts to reduce emissions in our existing operations and ultimately supply emissions-free power to the Direct Air Capture ('DAC') sites and sequestration hubs we are developing.'https://netpower.com/press-releases/net-power-to-c...FWIW, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital recently opened a position in NPWR:
NET Power (NPWR) is a clean energy company with carbon capture technology that
captures about 97% of the CO2 emissions in natural gas plants. It became public this quarter
through a SPAC. What could be less popular than that these days? We think that just might
be part of the opportunity. We believe that carbon capture will be a large market and NPWR
has strong backing. The CEO is Daniel Rice, and he and his family have been extremely
successful in the natural gas industry. The company has partnered with Occidental
Petroleum, Constellation Energy and Baker Hughes. NPWR is in the early stages of its
commercial deployment and if it doesn't work out, the downside is more than we would
usually stomach. However, the upside also appears to potentially be a multi-bagger and we
have managed our risk by sizing the position appropriately. We established our position
earlier in the year around the public offering for an average price of $10.10 per share.
NPWR ended the quarter at $13.00 per share."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pczgr1Z5YAQkFMFFv...Maybe reducing CO2 emissions worldwide will slow rising sea levels thereby allowing Jim Mungofitch to remain domiciled in Monaco a while longer.
