Wintershall Dea and Equinor have agreed to pursue the development of an extensive and safe Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain connecting continental European CO2 emitters to offshore storage sites on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
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The ambition of the Norwegian-German CCS project ‘NOR-GE’ is to make a vital contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Europe.
Through the partnership, both companies are responding to the European demand for the large-scale decarbonisation of carbon-intensive industries that need safe and large-scale underground CO2 storage to abate unavoidable emissions from their processes.
The partnership intends to connect Germany, the largest CO2 emitter in Europe, and Norway, which has Europe’s largest CO2 storage potential.
An approximately 900-kilometre-long open access pipeline is planned to connect the CO2 collection hub in Northern Germany and the storage sites in Norway and is aimed to be commissioned by 2032.
It is expected to have a capacity of 20 to 40 million tonnes of CO2 per year – equivalent to around twenty per cent of all German industrial emissions per year1. The project will also consider an early deployment solution where CO2 is planned to be transported by ship from the CO2 export hub to the storage sites.
Wintershall Dea and Equinor also plan to jointly apply for offshore CO2 storage licences, aiming to store between 15 and 20 million tonnes per year on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Wintershall Dea has a clear ambition to become net zero across upstream activities by 2030 (scope 1 and 2 on an equity share basis), to further develop its gas-weighted portfolio in Norway, and to build up a CCS and hydrogen business.
Wintershall Dea has gained valuable expertise in the Greensand Project in the Danish North Sea and in addition is a partner in Equinor’s Snøhvit CCS project. ■
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