Being an energy rich nation with a strong focus on challenges of climate change, Norway aims to make carbon capture and storage (CCS) a reality. Norway has four carbon capture and storage projects; Sleipner, Snøhvit, Mongstad and Kårstø.
26/08/2008 :: Sleipner
Norway has extensive experience in storing CO2 in geological structures. Since 1996, one million tonnes of CO2 per year have been separated from gas production on the Sleipner Vest field in the North Sea for storage in Utsira, a geological formation 1,000 metres below the seabed. One important question relating to carbon storage relates to potential seepage. Monitoring of the behaviour of the CO2 storage facility is of vital importance. Multinational research projects supported by the European Union has collected relevant data from the Utsira formation and developed and demonstrated prediction methods for the movement of the CO2 for many years into the future. The data shows the precise subsurface location of the CO2 plume and confirms that the CO2 is confined securely within the storage reservoir.
Snøhvit
When the production of natural gas, NGL and condensate commences from the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea, 700 000 tonnes of CO2 per year will be separated annually from the natural gas and reinjected and stored in a formation 2,600 metres under the seabed.
Mongstad
The Norwegian government and the oil company StatoilHydro have signed an agreement to establish a full-scale CO2 capture and storage plant in relation to a new gas fired CHP plant at Mongstad, Norways largest crude oil terminal and refinery. In order to reduce technical and financial risk, the project will progress in two stages. The first stage covers construction and operation of the Mongstad CO2 capture testing facility, which will be operational in 2011. The test facility will have the capacity to capture at least 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The aim is to further develop capture technology and contribute to bringing the costs of carbon capture down. The second stage, i.e. full-scale capture of approximately 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year, shall be in place by the end of 2014.
Kårstø
At Kårstø we will upscale the use of known carbon capture technology by a factor of ten, with the establishment of a retrofit capture facility in 2011/2012 in relation to the Kårstø gas fired power plant. The Kårstø project will capture and store about 1 million tonnes CO2 per year.
Establishment of a state-owned company responsible for CCS projects
The Norwegian government has taken an active approach to the development of CCS technologies and the deployment of such technologies. The Government has established a state-owned company that will safeguard state interests in the Mongstad CCS project and other projects concerning CO2 capture, transport and storage. The company will constitute an efficient tool to plan and execute CCS projects in co-operation with industrial partners.