Climate and Energy
From stack to storage
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pinpointed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a key technology to reduce emissions and meet the climate ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The North Sea has a particular role to play and TotalEnergies is investing heavily to develop this climate technology of tomorrow.
TotalEnergies is at the forefront of developing groundbreaking CCS technology in the Danish North Sea. The first ever tender round for licences to store CO2 below the seabed in the Danish North Sea was held in October 2022 and TotalEnergies was awarded two license areas in February 2023.
TotalEnergies plans to store at least five million tons of CO2 annually by 2030 in the two areas in a first phase. One licence area covers the depleted oil and gas field Harald, and the other is in a nearby saline aquifer. The geology of the aquifer is not mapped and analyzed as accurately as the Harald field, and TotalEnergies is therefore conducting seismic surveys during 2023 to understand the full potential of the storage site.
The reservoir in the Harald field has been the subject of a two-year study supported by the Danish public Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP). Under this program, TotalEnergies – together with the DUC partners Nordsøfonden and BlueNord – has worked with Denmark’s Technical University and Ørsted to develop a concept for transport, injection, and storage of CO2.
The geological composition of the Danish underground is particularly well suited for storage and TotalEnergies will be looking into additional opportunities.
The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) has estimated the storage potential in the Danish North Sea to be between 12 and 22 billion tons of CO2. With proximity to big industrial emitters in Germany and around the Baltic Sea, Denmark therefore has a unique potential to provide solutions on a European scale.
In 2025, the first large-scale carbon capture project in Denmark is expected to begin operations. The captured CO2 is planned to be transported by ship to the Northern Lights storage facility off the Norwegian West coast. Northern Lights is a joint venture between TotalEnergies, Shell, and Equinor.
5
million tons of CO2 stored annually by 2030 in two reservoirs in the Danish North Sea are planned for the first phase by TotalEnergies.
What is CCS?
With CCS, CO2 is captured, transported, and injected permanently and safely in underground reservoirs onshore or offshore. Thereby CCS effectively reduces large emissions from e.g. heavy industries or incineration plants, sectors which are otherwise challenging to decarbonize.
Establishing the right CCS infrastructure with pipelines
Building the right transport system for CO2 will be vital to bring down costs. The ambition is to store millions of tons of CO2, and to do that best, the big emitters in Denmark and neighboring countries will need pipelines to bring the CO2 to storage facilities. Ships, trains and lorries will also play a role to bring the liquid CO2 to pipelines or storage facilities.
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