Norway Awards CO2 Storage Licence

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has awarded Equinor and its partners in the Northern Lights project, Shell and Total, a licence to carry out a feasibility study for a CO₂ storage facility. This is part of a full-scale pilot project for CO₂capture and storage, the NPD said January 15. Equinor said January 11 that the government had approved the plan, which would be the first of its kind in Norway.

The awarded area is south of the giant Troll oil and gas field in the North Sea.

“This is the first time the authorities award an exploitation permit for injection and storage of CO₂, and this is an important project for initiating carbon capture and storage (CCS) both nationally and internationally,” said the NPD's co-ordinator for CO₂ storage.

Equinor and its partners in the Northern Lights project were the only applicants when the deadline expired.