Equinor's Smeaheia Carbon Capture Project Advances

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Test wells for the next major European carbon capture and storage (CCS) project have been successfully drilled in the North Sea.

The test wells, located 20 kilometres east of Equinor's (Stavanger, Norway) Troll A platform, form part of the company's Smeaheia project to locate suitable reservoirs as CO2 storage facilities with an eventual projected annual capacity of 30 million to 50 million tonnes by 2035. Capacity is expected to be 18 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) in Phase 1, rising to 27 Mtpa in Phase 2. The project forms a key part of the CO2 Highway Europe project to transport captured carbon from major industrial hubs in northwestern Europe to secure storage sites in Norway's North Sea. It will boast a 1,000-kilometer pipeline, set to launch by 2030, crossing Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. To begin, the pipeline will connect to CO2 export terminals in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and Dunkirk, France, with the ability to add branch connections in the future to other European countries.

"The Smeaheia wells show promising results for CO2 storage," said Equinor's senior vice president for low carbon solutions, Grete Tveit. "Equinor has drilled two wells in the North Sea (32/7-1 and 32/4-4), and today the results were announced by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. The wells, located 20 kilometers east of the Troll A platform, show great potential for CO2 storage. Extensive testing has been conducted, and the early results are positive. Both wells have high-quality reservoir rocks that are suitable for CO2 storage. There is still much work to be done, but every step is crucial in the development of large-scale CO2 capture, transport, and storage."

Industrial Info is tracking two associated Smeaheia projects worth more than US$1 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports. The news follows on from similar CO2 storage investments in Europe in recent weeks. Last month saw the Dutch government intervene to support the nation's leading CCS project, Aramis, following the withdrawal of financial support by key partners Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) and TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France). It has promised funding of 639 million euros (US$726 million) for the construction of the pipeline system for Aramis, which will be needed to connect key heavy industrial emitters to the CO2 transportation system. For additional information, see May 7, 2025, article - Netherlands Injects $726 Million into Aramis CCS Project.

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