Norway Gives Green Light for Equinor’s CO2 Storage Project

Equinor has been awarded an exploitation permit for CO2 storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The allocated area for storage of CO₂ is located near the Troll oil and gas field and was announced in July 2018.

Equinor is currently performing front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies on storage with project partners Shell and Total.

The storage solution is part of the large-scale carbon capture and storage project in Norway.

“The government has an ambition to realize a cost effective solution for full-scale carbon capture and storage in Norway, given that this will result in international technology development. The companies’ effort to mature a storage solution is a prerequisite for a successful project,” says Kjell-Børge Freiberg, minister of Petroleum and Energy.

The allocation of an exploitation permit is necessary to continue the FEED-studies for a CO₂ storage solution. The FEED-studies will also provide more accurate cost estimates necessary for an investment decision.

This is the first exploitation permit for storage of CO₂ on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The allocation is made under the CO2-storage regulations from December 2014.

Equinor, together with project partners Shell and Total, will now mature the storage concept towards a Plan for Development and Operations (PDO) scheduled for delivery in 2019. An investment decision for the Norwegian full-scale carbon capture and storage project is expected in 2020/2021.