Denmark ready to store more CO2 underground

Denmark’s subsea CO2 storage facility is ready to receive high volumes of CO2. So reports British chemical company Ineos after receiving a positive final report for the pilot project.

Ineos said Denmark now has “a safe and functioning underground storage facility in the North Sea, where CO2 can be permanently stored to combat climate change.”

1,800 meters below the North Sea seabed

Just over a year ago, off the coast of Denmark, the first foreign CO2—from Ineos in Zwijndrecht, near Antwerp—was injected into an undersea storage facility. That was part of the so-called Greensand Project, which involved 23 partners, including Fluxys and German oil and gas company Wintershall Dea.

So, the European-backed project has been given the green light to store larger volumes underground in the North Sea. “The pilot phase of Project Greensand is now complete,” Ineos said. “The technical screening ensures that the stored CO2 remains safely and permanently in the closed Nini West reservoir, 1,800 meters below the North Sea seabed. We establish that the stored CO2 behaves in the reservoir as expected.”

Ineos is one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies and, thus, highly carbon-intensive. It plans to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050.

Onshore CO2 storage is also explored

The principle of CCS, which stands for carbon capture and storage or the capture, transport, and storage of CO2 under subsoil or in depleted oil fields and gas reservoirs, is one way to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve climate goals.

Denmark expects that the future CCS market will generate many jobs and money. The country also signed an agreement with Flanders and Belgium for the international transport of carbon dioxide.

It is exploring onshore and undersea CO2 storage. It has awarded some companies, including Ineos, an exploration license to explore the possibilities of permanent CO2 storage in the subsurface of Denmark’s Central Jutland region.

According to a research institute affiliated with the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy, Denmark could potentially store between 12 and 22 billion tons of CO2, equivalent to 400 to 700 times the country’s annual CO2 emissions.