California Resources Corporation

CRC is a publicly traded exploration and production company that generates revenue primarily from selling oil and natural gas produced in California. The company is also developing a carbon capture and sequestration business through its subsidiary Carbon TerraVault, aiming to store industrial CO2 emissions underground in depleted reservoirs. This dual-track model means some investors categorize it as an integrated energy-transition play rather than a pure-play upstream operator.

CRC holds Class VI permits from the Environmental Protection Agency to inject CO2 into geologically suitable underground formations. These permits are extraordinarily scarce — as of early 2025, CRC had more EPA-approved CO2 injection wells than any other entity in the United States. Obtaining a single Class VI permit can take years of regulatory review, giving CRC a first-mover advantage in California's emerging carbon-storage market.

Francisco J. Leon, who became President and CEO in 2022, oversees the company's capital allocation. The Board of Directors approves major transactions such as the Aera Energy merger. The carbon management business, Carbon TerraVault, has a separate board and governance structure under the joint venture with Brookfield Renewable, which brings its own investment committee to large project-finance decisions (per the firm, 2023).

Brookfield Renewable, through its Global Transition Fund, committed $2.6 billion in 2023 to invest alongside CRC in carbon capture and sequestration projects. CRC contributes the subsurface rights and permits; Brookfield contributes equity capital and project-development expertise. The joint venture, Carbon TerraVault Holdings, has economic interests split approximately 51% CRC / 49% Brookfield for initial projects (per Brookfield Renewable, 2023).

By revenue, CRC remains an oil and gas producer — the Aera merger roughly doubled production volumes in 2024, and hydrocarbons will generate the vast majority of cash flow for the foreseeable future. Strategically, management and the board are allocating the bulk of growth capital toward carbon management, framing carbon capture as the long-term value driver. The company reports its results in two segments: oil and natural gas, and carbon management.

CRC was spun off from Occidental Petroleum in 2014 when Occidental decided to exit its California business. The spin-off gave CRC the former Occidental California assets, including extensive acreage in the San Joaquin Basin and the Elk Hills field. CRC operates independently and is not a subsidiary of Occidental; however, the two companies retain a legacy-relationship dynamic that occasionally surfaces in basin-level operational arrangements (per public record).