The Ministry of Energy of Norway has received applications from six companies for the proposed acreage for potential offshore storage of CO2 in the North Sea.
The applications were received from Aker BP, Equinor Low Carbon Solutions, Harbour Energy Norge, Horisont Energi, Storegga Norge, and TotalEnergies EP Norge.
The department is processing incoming applications and aims to award exploration licenses in the second half of 2024.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) entails capturing, transporting and storing CO2 from sources such as power generation or industrial emissions. The objective of CCS is to limit emission of CO2 to the atmosphere by capturing CO2, and then storing it safely.
It is possible to store more than 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, which is equivalent to the current level of Norwegian CO2 emissions, for 1000 years, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate.