Three companies — TotalEnergies, Wintershall Dea and CapeOmega — have applied for permits for carbon storage sites on the Norwegian continental shelf for future carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects since the Ministry of Petroleum & Energy invited bids in April.
The ministry said it plans to process the applications and allocate specific areas to approved companies in the second half of 2022.
“There is considerable industrial interest in projects that include [the] commercial storage of carbon dioxide on the Norwegian continental shelf. Further allocations of areas will strengthen the development of an important climate measure and contribute to a new, commercial industry on the Norwegian shelf,” said Minister of Petroleum & Energy Terje Aasland.
Aasland said the ministry would be happy to announce additional areas for carbon dioxide storage with more requests.
CapeOmega claims to be the largest private infrastructure owner on the Norwegian continental shelf. The company aims to support the energy transition through the transport of gases, including on hydrogen and CO2 projects.
TotalEnergies has experience with offshore Norway CO2 projects, particularly on the Northern Lights project with Equinor and Shell.
Meanwhile, Winterhsall Dea recently announced it was planning a new project to produce clean hydrogen on Germany’s North Sea coast and store the emitted CO2 permanently offshore Denmark and Norway.
The company previously said it was pursuing a CO2 storage licence application in Norway.
Earlier this week, Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum & Energy awarded two CO2 storage licences, one in the North Sea to Equinor and one in the Barents Sea to Equinor, Eni’s Vaar Energi and Horisont Energy.
State-controlled Equinor was awarded the operatorship of both the licences, respectively referred to as Smeaheia and Polaris.
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