Experience From Real CCS Projects - And the Way Forward

Norway was one of the very first countries in the world recognizing and acting against global warming. In 1992 Norway introduced the world's first CO2-tax, forming the backdrop against which CCS became a viable solution. The Sieipner project: The CO2 tax of 1992 prompted StatoilHydro to initiate a project to capture CO2 from the Sieipner West natural gas field and reinject it into the so-called "Utsira formation" - a deep saline aquifer beneath the A platform. This solution -coming on-stream in 192d - has cut CO2 emissions by almost a million tonnes per year reaching an injected total of nearly 10 million tonnes by mid 2008. The Sn0hvit project: The StatoilHydro operated Snohvit natural gas field in the Barents Sea is the world's first gas liquefaction plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS). From its start-up in 2007 about 0,7 million tonnes of CO2 is captured from natural gas and transported back to the field in the world's first sub-sea CO2-pipeline. European CO2 Test Centre at Mongstad (TCM): This test centre is currently being designed and will be located at Norway's largest refinery in Mongstad on the west coast of Norway. TCM is built at a cost of several million US$ in order to test improved technology for CO2-capture. It will enter into operation in 2010 as a forerunner to a full-scale capture plant for both a gas fired power station now under construction on the refinery site and the refinery itself. The "Halten CO2 Project": StatoilHydro and Shell are cooperating in a project to assess the capture and storage of CO2 from a 860 MW gas-fired power station at Tjeldbergodden, Norway. Between two and 2.5 million tones of CO2 per year will be stored annually. The way forward: The critical issues for advancing CCS as a cost-efficient tool for climate change mitigation in the years to come are to be found in the areas of cost, public acceptance and legal frameworks. Successful early projects as well as progressive companies, governments and environmental NGO's are crucial to the success or failure of CCS.