Historical archive

One step closer to CO2 storage in the North Sea

Historical archive

Published under: Solberg's Government

Publisher: Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

Together with Shell and Total, Equinor has completed drilling a test well for CO2 storage in the North Sea. The objective is to investigate whether the reservoar in the area is suited for storage of CO2. The preliminary results are promising.

— We are glad to see that the preliminary results are positive, and that the reservoir seems well suited for storage of CO2. This is an important step in our work to establish a full scale project for CO2 capture, transport and storage, says Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Tina Bru.

If the full scale project is established, the reservoir will be used to store CO2 from Norcem's cement factory in Brevik and/or Fortum Oslo Varme's waste incineration plant in Oslo.

Last autumn, another important milestone was reached when several countries agreed to allow export of CO₂ for the purpose of geological storage offshore under the "London Protocol".

The decision is an international breakthrough for capture, transport and storage of CO₂ (CCS) across borders and could possibly lead to a faster development of CCS as a climate technology.