SUMMARY

The licence gives Wintershall Dea the right to store up to 5mn metric tons/year of CO2.

By Joseph Murphy

Germany's Wintershall Dea announced on October 6 it had secured its first CO2 storage licence off the coast of Norway, hailing the award as a key step forward towards building its carbon management business.

The Luna licence, covering an area 120 km west of Bergen, gives Wintershall Dea the right to store up to 5mn metric tons/year of CO2. Wintershall Dea will operate the licence with a 60% interest, while its partner CapeOmega will have a 40% stake.

Wintershall Dea signed a co-operation deal with Norway's Equinor on developing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain connecting European CO2 emitters with offshore storage sites on the Norwegian shelf. They also agreed to construct a CO2 transport pipeline between Germany and the Norwegian North Sea.

“This award marks a new chapter of our activities in Norway," Wintershall Dea's chief technical officer, Huge Dijkgraaf commented. "With our proven track record, our subsea expertise and our ambition to contribute to Europe’s climate goals, we are ideally placed to help deliver the infrastructure Norway needs to become a hub for European carbon storage."