Three Oil Majors Apply to Store CO2 Under Norwegian Seabed

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Three oilmajors, Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway), Total SA (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France) and Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) have submitted an application for the storage of captured carbon dioxide (CO2) under the seabed on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The partners want an exploration permit to create a subsea reservoir for CO2 as part of Norway's first full-chain carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The application was made to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) which is overseeing the so-called "Northern Lights" project which aims to capture and transport CO2 from the Brevik cement plant to an underwater storage reservoir. The Brevik project, led by plant owner Norcem, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement AG (Heidelberg, Germany), pipped two others for $9 million in government funding. Norway has spent roughly $35 million on the whole project to date. State-owned Gassco AS (Kopervik, Norway) has carried out a ship transport study, and Equinor and partners have studied the feasibility of CO2 storage at three different sites on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. For additional information, see May 29, 2018, article - Norway Backs Full-Scale Carbon Capture Project.

"Equinor and companions Shell and Total are very happy to have the chance to use an exploitation allowing for a future CO2 storage facility," explained Per Gunnar Stavland, authority relations, Northern Lights. "We will have additional dialogue with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate about this venture later this autumn."

Wenche Tjelta Johansen, assistant director in exploration for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, commented: "As with the award of manufacturing licences, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate will consider the geotechnical work and supply a recommendation to the ministry before an award".

Norway is one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to funding large-scale carbon capture projects. NPD figures show that the Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea and the Norwegian part of the North Sea may be able to store more than 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide on the shelf. This volume corresponds to 1,000 years of the current Norwegian CO2 emissions and would open up additional storage to northern European countries.

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