International Debut of CCUS

Norway debuts CCS

Norway is responsible for the first carbon storage project developed specifically as a greenhouse gas mitigation measure. Injection of CO₂ at the Sleipner West field in the North Sea in 1996 was the start of the world’s first industrial scale carbon capture and storage project. Since 1996 Sleipner has stored more than 16 Mt of CO₂ in the Utsira formation, a deep saline aquifer 800-1,000 m beneath the floor of the North Sea.

Location of the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea.

In 1991, the Norwegian government instituted a tax on CO₂ emissions. Currently operated by Equinor, the CO₂ gas processing and capture unit was built in order to evade the 1991 Norwegian CO₂ tax. The natural gas produced from the Sleipner West field contains up to 9% CO₂, however, in order to meet the required export specifications and the customers requirements, this has to be reduced to a maximum of 2.5%. Sleipner obtains CO₂ credit for the injected CO₂ and does not pay the tax.

Sleipner gas field operations, Norway.