Pioneer: carbon dioxide from the Tjeldbergodden plant will be piped to Heidrun to boost oil recovery from the field
Giants blaze carbon capture trail
Norwegian player Statoil and Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell have joined forces in a pioneering scheme to strip greenhouse gas emissions from a gas-fired power plant in Norway, using the carbon dioxide to enhance oil recovery from the Norwegian shelf.
The move will allow Statoil to build a gas-fired power plant at Tjeldbergodden in west Norway by stripping out greenhouse gases from its emissions.
The plant could be ready by 2009. The heat-trapping gas would then be piped from 2011 to Shell's Draugen oilfield off Norway, where it would be injected into the reservoir to help raise pressure and help force more oil to the surface.
In a later phase, the gas would also be transported to the Heidrun oilfield to help raise oil recovery rates.
Statoil's plan to build a gas-fired power plant has been held up for years by Norwegian government demands that it should not emit carbon dioxide.
The plan could cost between Nkr8 billion ($1.19 billion) and Nkr10 billion. Statoil chief Helge Lund said to build a gas-fired power plant in west Norway alone would cost between Nkr4 billion and Nkr4.5 billion.
He told a news conference that the plan would hinge on Norwegian government support but declined to say how much he reckoned Oslo should pay.