DEA approves three North Sea carbon storage licenses

Offshore staff

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has recommended the award of Denmark’s first three licenses for exploration of full-scale CO₂ storage in the Danish North Sea.

TotalEnergies EP Denmark will receive two licenses, with a third issued to a consortium between INEOS E&P and Wintershall Dea International. No other companies or groups submitted applications.

Formal awards should follow the presentation of a report to the Climate, Energy and Utilities Committee of the Danish Parliament.

Nordsøfonden will represent the state with a 20% share of all three licenses.

The permits cover areas in depleted offshore oil and gas fields and previously unexplored saline aquifers. All are said to contain geological structures suited to permanent CO2 storage.

Captured CO₂, the DEA said, would likely be transported via specially designed ships or through existing or new pipeline infrastructure, with the CO₂ pumped into areas of sandstone or limestone layers and then buried 1-2 km subsurface beneath thick layers of impermeable claystone.

TotalEnergies said its two licenses are 250 km from the west coast of Denmark and cover a total area of 2,118 sq km.

The acreage includes the company’s Harald gas fields—it is already assessing CO₂ storage opportunities for these within the framework of the Bifrost project—and as a saline aquifer that could increase CO2 storage volumes.

The company will perform evaluation and appraisal work for a development that could transport and permanently store more than 5 MMt/year of CO₂, through repurposing existing offshore infrastructure and constructing new facilities.

Already under development is the pilot Project Greensand, led by INEOS E&P, which will test the feasibility in the Siri area of the Danish North Sea.

02.06.2023