California's First CO2 Goes Underground at Elk Hills

For the first time in California's history, carbon dioxide is being permanently stored underground. On May 26, 2026, CO2 captured from a cryogenic gas plant at Kern County's Elk Hills Field started flowing more than one mile beneath the surface into a depleted reservoir. The state's CCS permitting pathway, long tested only on paper, has now produced an operating project. That changes the conversation entirely.

California Resources Corporation (CRC) and its carbon management subsidiary, Carbon TerraVault (CTV), achieved first injection at Carbon TerraVault I (CTV I), making it California's first operational carbon capture and storage project. The 26R reservoir at CTV I can store up to 1.46 million metric tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of taking nearly 350,000 cars off the road each year, with a total storage capacity of 38 million metric tons.

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Why Is California's First CO2 Injection a Turning Point?

CTV I is proof that California's CCS permitting pathway actually works from start to finish. For years, industrial emitters in the state had nowhere to send their captured CO2. There was no operational storage site. There were permit applications, feasibility studies, and policy frameworks, but no CO2 going into the ground. That ended on May 26, 2026.

The 26R reservoir is the first in California to receive final EPA Class VI permits for underground CO2 injection and storage. Securing that permit took years of technical work and regulatory coordination. That completed pathway now serves as a template for the eight additional reservoirs CRC has already submitted for Class VI permitting.

How Does the CTV I Project Work?

CTV I sources CO2 directly from CRC's cryogenic gas plant at Elk Hills. The captured gas is compressed and injected into the 26R reservoir, a depleted oil and gas formation that has held hydrocarbons safely underground for millions of years. That geological track record is not incidental. It is the foundation of the project's safety case.

The project uses existing infrastructure from CRC's decades of oil and gas operations at the site. There is no need to build new wells from scratch or construct entirely new surface facilities. Wells, pipelines, and subsurface data were already in place. That reuse model keeps capital costs lower and development timelines shorter, making CTV I a replicable blueprint for sites across the state.

CTV I consists of two depleted reservoirs, 26R and A1-A2. At full capacity, 26R alone can store 1.46 million metric tons of CO2 annually, with 38 million metric tons of total storage potential across the site.

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Project Stage	Reservoirs	Total CO2 Storage Potential	Status
CTV I (26R reservoir)	1	38 million metric tons (1.46M MT/yr max)	Operational, injecting CO2 as of May 2026
Additional CTV Reservoirs	8	~352 million metric tons	EPA Class VI permits submitted, pending

What Do 8 More Reservoirs Mean for California's CCS Pipeline?

CTV I is the first domino. CRC has already submitted eight additional CTV storage reservoirs for U.S. EPA Class VI permitting, representing approximately 352 million metric tons of total potential CO2 storage capacity across California. That is nearly nine times the total capacity of the 26R reservoir alone.

Each of those eight sites now has something they did not have before May 26: a completed, operational project to point to when regulators, investors, and industrial customers ask whether California CCS can actually work. The answer is yes, and the evidence is sitting one mile underground in Kern County.

How Is Brookfield's Stake Shaping the Project?

The Carbon TerraVault Joint Venture is a 51/49 partnership between CRC and Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management. Brookfield committed an initial $500 million to invest in jointly approved CCS projects through the venture, channeled through the Brookfield Global Transition Fund.

That institutional backing matters for the broader CCS market. Carbon storage has historically struggled to attract patient capital because of long development timelines and permitting uncertainty. A $500 million commitment from one of the world's largest infrastructure investors, paired with a now-operational project, starts to reframe CCS storage as a viable long-term asset class.

What State Policy Is Backing This?

Both the Governor and the state's top climate regulator tied CTV I directly to California's goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. Governor Gavin Newsom called the project proof that "innovation and ambition are the California way," adding that it "will permanently store carbon pollution underground for the first time in California's history." That kind of executive-level framing signals that CCS is no longer a fringe option in California's climate toolkit. It is now a named priority.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chair Lauren Sanchez made the policy stakes explicit: "Carbon capture, utilization, and storage is a critical piece of California's climate solutions puzzle and an important tool we're counting on to help achieve carbon neutrality. Reaching our climate goals requires both reducing and sequestering emissions, and this milestone demonstrates how we're moving every viable solution forward to get there."

That alignment between the Governor's office and CARB sends a durable signal to industrial emitters across California. The state has both the regulatory will and the physical infrastructure to support large-scale carbon storage. Companies with long-term decarbonization targets now have a credible in-state option.

What Does CTV I Mean for Kern County?

CRC committed over $1 million to local communities in Kern County through the CTV I Community Benefits Plan. A Community Advisory Council made up of local stakeholders will be established in 2026 to evaluate and respond to the region's needs on an ongoing basis.

That community structure matters beyond the dollar figure. Carbon storage projects operate on multi-decade timelines. Building a formal structure for community input early, before concerns become opposition, is how projects maintain the social license they need to keep operating. Kern County is already home to significant energy infrastructure, and CTV I positions the region as a destination for carbon management investment alongside its existing energy economy.

How Does California's CCS Progress Compare Nationally?

California joining the list of states with operational CCS infrastructure is a meaningful shift. Texas has led North American CCS development, with the Railroad Commission now holding Class VI primacy after EPA approval. Three states secured Class VI primacy in a single year in 2025, Texas, Arizona, and West Virginia, accelerating the national buildout.

California is taking a different route. Rather than pursuing state primacy over Class VI permitting, CRC navigated the federal EPA process directly. CTV I is the result. That completed federal pathway, with 26R as the first California reservoir to hold a final Class VI permit, now serves as a reference point for every industrial emitter in the state evaluating whether CCS is a viable path for their own operations.

The approximately 352 million metric tons of potential storage capacity sitting in CRC's permitting pipeline represents a serious long-term commitment to making California a carbon storage destination, not just a carbon reduction leader. The starting gun has fired. The rest of that pipeline now knows the track is real.

The Pipeline Behind CTV I Is Already Running

The significance of May 26, 2026 is not what happened at Elk Hills that day. It is what it unlocks for the eight reservoirs that come after it. California now has a completed regulatory pathway, an operating project, institutional capital already committed, and state policy aligned at the highest level. The 26R reservoir holds 38 million metric tons of storage capacity. The eight sites behind it hold approximately 352 million more.

The depleted reservoir model is cost-efficient, replicable, and proven. Industrial emitters across California no longer have to ask whether underground CO2 storage is theoretically possible in the state. The CO2 is already underground.

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