The re-use of an oil rig in the North Sea is set to be a crucial point in the European Union’s fight against global warming, as one of the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in the world.
The new facility is located on the Nini oil field, in the Danish part of the North Sea. It will operate the Siri platform that was used to extract fossil fuels from the old field. It ceased extractive operations some years ago, and the chemical firm INEOS is now refurbishing it for its new purpose under the name Greensand Future.
According to INEOS’ plans, the new facility will receive liquefied CO2 and store it at a depth of 1,800 metres in depleted oil reservoirs. To this end, INEOS is building a temporary storage facility in the Port of Esbjerg on Denmark’s mainland, and a purpose-built carrier vessel to move the stranded gas is also under construction in the Netherlands.
The chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, which oversees the project, Mads Gade, told the Associated Press that they plan to initially store 400,000 tons (363,000 metric tons) of CO2 per year, but will move to as much as 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) annually by 2030. Gade believes that Denmark alone can “actually store more than several hundred years of our own [European] emissions.” Geological experts found that Greensand sandstone has excellent storage conditions for liquefied CO2.
Carbon capture and storage has been identified by many experts as one tool in the fight against climate change, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chief among them. The EU has adopted this technology and aims to build at least 250 million tons (227 million metric tons) of CO2 storage capacity every year until 2040.
Despite the institutional and scientific endorsement, CCS is also attracting criticism in some environmentalist circles. Mainly, activists see the push for CCS as a way to avoid reducing emissions and move away from the issue. Greenpeace Denmark told AP, through its head of climate and environmental policy, Helene Hagel, that CCS can be used in sectors “where emissions are truly difficult or impossible to abate,” rather than indiscriminately across industries.
