To transport and store the CO₂, we work with expert partners - in the case of our first project, Brevik CCS, our technology partner Equinor has thorough experience from handling and storing CO₂ in the North Sea.
CO₂ is usually stored in geological formations deep underground, often at depths of one kilometer or more, either onshore or offshore. The CO₂ will be injected and stored in rock formations at 2,600 meters depth. The geological storage of CO₂ has been in practice for several decades already beneath the North Sea, where nearly 1 Mt CO₂ has been successfully injected annually both the Sleipner field (1 mill tons CO₂ annually since 1996) and the Snøhvit field (appr. 700,000 tons CO₂ annually since 2007) in Norway.
Scientific research shows that the storage of CO₂ on the Norwegian continental shelf is safe, and thorough monitoring measures are in place to verify that there is no CO₂ leakage from the storing. One of the standard monitoring parameters in all CCS projects is to guarantee that no impact is created on the biodiversity in the sea (e.g. by a changing pH value).
As around 40 Mt tonnes of CO₂ are currently stored annually in all CCS projects worldwide, all these projects must report according to their permits. Up until today, no CCS project had to be stopped due to environmental concerns.
FluidFlower experiment (© Wintershall Dea)
What happens 2,000 metres below the seabed when CO₂ is injected into depleted oil or gas reservoirs? The impressive FluidFlower experiment, developed by the University of Bergen in Norway, demonstrates what you can't normally see. The interesting video from Wintershall Dea shows why CO₂ storage is safe.