The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has awarded the Havstjerne CO2 storage licence in the Norwegian North Sea to Wintershall Dea and its partner Altera. Wintershall Dea holds 50% of the shares and will operate the licence, which is 135 km southwest of Stavanger and has an estimated storage capacity of up to 7 million tonnes per year.
Hugo Dijkgraaf, Chief Technology Officer and Member of the Board at Wintershall Dea: “This second licence award in Norway supports our ambitious target to build a global carbon management portfolio that potentially can abate 20 to 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2040. We are proud of the trust that the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy places in our expertise and our ability to contribute to reaching Europe’s climate goals. We are working intensively on delivering the infrastructure Norway needs to become a hub for European carbon storage.”
The partners in the Havstjerne licence view the award as a crucial pathway to the establishment of the Norwegian continental shelf as a leading CO2 storage destination in Europe. Norway is the continent’s most promising country in terms of its underground storage potential, and has a potentially huge role to play in meeting climate targets through efficient linking with continental European emitters. According to Michael Zechner, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea Norge, “Wintershall Dea has the industrial will to move CCS forward, building on the competency we have accumulated after five decades on the Norwegian Continental shelf.”
The partners hope to offer a flexible and scalable solution for emitters across Europe by putting a system in place for the shipping of CO2 to the Havstjerne license. Clusters of emitters in the Baltics, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain have already been identified as potential sources of CO2 for storage.
Ingvild Sæther, President and CEO at Altera Infrastructure: “CCS as a decarbonization strategy is expected to expand and grow significantly in Europe over the coming years, so this is only the beginning. The world needs CCS on a massive scale, and we are proud to be part of the solution. Together with our strong partner Wintershall Dea, we are ready to do our part in leading the industry towards a sustainable future.”
The first Norwegian CO2 licence given to Wintershall Dea before it was awarded Havstjerne is the Luna licence in the Norwegian North Sea. The company is working with Equinor to create a 900-kilometre CO2 pipeline as part of the NOR-GE project, and is well placed to establish a European value chain from carbon collection points in Wilhelmshaven, Germany to Norway’s storage reservoirs. This will facilitate the large-scale, safe and cost-effective storage of European industrial emissions under the North Sea.
Wintershall Dea’s first CO2 storage activities were launched in the Danish North Sea as part of Project Greensand in March 2023, with the company proving the feasibility and safety of the project. This is the first time that a full-scale CCS value chain is being implemented across Europe. The Norwegian oil and gas operator is hoping to make a major contribution to European climate targets through these projects.
German group BASF owns 72.7% of Wintershall Dea with remainder is held by Russian investors Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan.
Image: Wintershall Dea