Ineos, in partnership with Harbour Energy, and Nordsøfonden has given the green light for work on development of what the companies are calling the European Union’s first full-scale operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility. The companies said that the final investment decision (FID) means that the first commercial phase of the Greensand Future project will see carbon dioxide being stored at the subsea location by the end of 2025 or early 2026.
The partners added that the FID paves the way for more than $150 million in investment across the value chain to scale storage capacity and support Danish and European climate targets.
Greensand Future builds on the pilot Project Greensand which, in March 2023, demonstrated the feasibility of cross-border carbon dioxide storage from capture to transport, to storage. Initially, Greensand Future is set to capture and permanently store 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Gradual expansion of storage capacity in the Nini field, in the Danish North Sea, could see 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being stored each year.
With results from Project Greensand being verified by DNV, a provider of risk, verification and standardisation services, the partners said that the stored carbon dioxide would remain “safely and permanently in the closed Nini West reservoir 1800 metres below the North Sea.”
“With Greensand Future and the establishment of the full value chain, we are sending an important message to the Danish and European emitters, currently considering large-scale capture projects, that it can be done,” said Mads Gade Head of Denmark, Ineos Energy.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of INEOS said: "Greensand Carbon Storage is a far better way to decarbonise Europe than deindustrialise. That just moves the problem elsewhere, doesn’t solve it, and destroys jobs. Our Investment in Greensand helps secure a sustainable future for both the planet and the economy."
The first phase of Greensand Future will see carbon dioxide captured and liquified at Danish biomethane production plants and transported to the port of Esbjerg. From there it will be shipped by Royal Wagenborg to the Nini field for permanent storage. The offshore rig Noble Resolve (pictured) plays a key role in the CCS project, where it will help facilitate the first storage of CO2 in the North Sea subsoil.
The European Commission has estimated that the EU will need to establish some 250 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide storage by 2040 to achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement. To meet this demand Ineos, Harbour Energy, and Nordsøfonden, are also investigating the feasibility of storing carbon dioxide underground on land in Denmark. The partners were awarded an exploration licence for an area of Jutland in the Gassum reservoir.
Other major CCS developments include a project announced, during 2022, by CNOOC, Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Exxon Mobil and Shell. The partners are looking to establish a world-scale carbon capture and storage hub in the Daya Bay National Economic and Technological Development Zone in Huizhou, China.
Further reading:
• Sinopec releases decarbonisation roadmap and partners on a plan for carbon capture
• Carbon capture and storage: Decarbonising Teesside
• Carbon capture utilisation and storage: A look ahead
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