Capturing and storing CO2 is one solution to reducing the impact of carbon dioxide emissions, which are responsible for climate change. Denmark wants to develop this new green industry in its territorial waters by allowing former disused oil and gas fields within 250 kilometres of its coast to be filled with CO2. The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has now evaluated the applications and has recommended the Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities to award the first three (3) exclusive licenses for exploration of full-scale CO2 storage in the Danish North Sea: two, for offshore storage, to the French energy company TotalEnergies, the third to the British chemical company Ineos together with the Norwegian oil group Wintershall, all in partnership with the Danish group Nordsøfonden, participating in all licences on behalf of the Danish state, with a total share of 20%. “We are delighted with the prospect of being a partner in the new licences for carbon storage. As the Danish state subsurface resource company, our purpose is to generate value for Danish society by exploiting the potential of our underground assets – from both economic and environmental perspectives. Storing carbon dioxide underground has the potential to reduce the volume of CO2 released into the atmosphere, thus helping Denmark to achieve its climate goals,” so Birgitta Jacobsen, CEO of Nordsøfonden. TotalEnergies will first have to explore the potential of the 2118 square kilometre seabed, which, when fully operational, could store more than 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. But the operation requires the activation of an entire ecosystem, from identifying CO2-emitting industries to the equipment needed to capture the CO2 at the sites and then transport it by ship or pipeline to Danish sites for storage. Denmark aims to store around 13 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030 and estimates the storage potential at 22 billion tonnes, which is equivalent to 500-1000 years of Danish CO2 emissions. And it plans to commercialise this new form of resource: in September, an agreement was signed with Flanders and Belgium to import and transport CO2 to be stored underground in Denmark. “Nordsøfonden is looking forward to play a role in creating a new business area for Danish society and to assist in developing and reinforcing Denmark’s position in the field of carbon storage. With its estimated storage capacity and central location, Denmark has the potential to become a European hub for carbon storage,” further explains Birgitta Jacobsen.
Read more on Nordsoefonden.dk, Kemf.dk and Ens.dk
