Denmark’s first CO2 storage project to soon begin commissioning tests

Offshore supply vessel Aurora Storm has left the Danish Port of Esbjerg towards the site of Project Greensand, allowing commissioning tests to soon begin at Denmark’s first CO2 storage project.

According to the latest update from the project developer, Aurora Storm left the harbor in Esbjerg towards the Nini West field in the North Sea today, 10 February.

The vessel was docked in Esbjerg for the past weeks, where Blue Water Shipping and Semco Maritime installed and upgraded its equipment, so it is now ready to fulfill its role at Project Greensand.

The update also notes that the project is progressing as planned and that new CO2 injection systems are set to be commissioned in the coming weeks.

“We are now beginning preparations on the North Sea, and we are very much looking forward to getting on with the work out there. We are now preparing our systems before the first storage of CO2 in Denmark can really begin,” said Soeren Reinhold Poulsen, Project Director at Project Greensand.

The Danish Energy Agency awarded Project Greensand with the country’s first-ever permit for CO2 storage at the end of 2022.

INEOS E&P and Wintershall Dea applied for the permit on 30 August 2022 in order to test, develop and demonstrate that CO2 can be stored in the former Nini West oil field in the North Sea. 

The permit allows up to 15,000 tonnes of CO2 to be injected in the project’s pilot phase and is valid for a period of four months, expiring on 1 April 2023.