Dutch govt subsidises planned CCS project

The Dutch government will subsidise a consortium of energy companies with $2.4bn to support the construction of a  carbon capture and storage facility at the Port of Rotterdam, local media reported on May 10.

The Dutch Broadcast Foundation reported that Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil were among the consortium members supporting construction of the CCS facility, which would be among the first to store CO₂ at a large-scale in the Netherlands. The project, known as Porthos, is being developed by Gasunie, EBN and port authorities. Shell, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide and Air Products agreed to support it in December 2018. Porthos will receive CO₂ from some of their industrial facilities.

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A spokesman for the port authority in Rotterdam told the Reuters news service May 9 that applications have already been granted for the CCS project. The facility could be operational as soon as 2024 and cut overall emissions from the heavy industrial footprint around the largest sea port in Europe by as much as 10%. Dutch emissions are among the highest for members of the EU.

CO₂ would be stored at depleted natural gas fields in the Dutch waters of the North Sea.

There are other CCS plans in the works in Dutch waters. Neptune Energy, the largest natural gas producer in the Netherlands, announced plans in December to conduct a feasibility study on developing a large-scale offshore CCS project in the North Sea.

The plan is to store 5-8mn mt of CO₂ annually in depleted gas fields at the Neptune-operated L10-A, L10-B and L10-E areas. The project, if realised, could more than halve CO₂ emissions from the country's industrial sector.