CCS Project Database
Company/Alliance: Statoil ASA, Petoro AS (Norwegian state direct interest), Total E&P Norge AS, GDF Suez E&P Norge AS, Norsk Hydro, Hess Norge
Location:
Capture: LNG plant on the island of Melkoya near Hammerfest, northern Norway
Storage: Offshore Snohvit gas field, in the Barents sea, offshore Norway
Start Date: 2008
Size: Up to 0.7 Mt/yr
CO2 Source: LNG Processing: The Snohvit gas contains 5-8% CO2
Transportation: 153 km/ 95 mile onshore to offshore pipeline
Storage: Saline Tubasan Sandstone Formation reservoirs at 2.6 km (8530 feet) below sea bed
Motivation/Economics:
CO2 tax exemption from Norwegian Government
Comments:
The oil produced from Snohvit is the first offshore oil field to be produced without offshore installations. Gas production has started in 2007 and CO2 capture, using amine technology, started in 2008. Statoil has experience with CO2 storage from Sleipner and Snohvit is its second large scale CO2 storage project. Nearly 3 million tonnes of CO2 have been injected to date.
Approximately 7 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas are produced at the Snøhvit field. CO2 is removed from the gas stream and piped 152 km back to the field for injection into an offshore deep saline formation. Around 0.7 million tonnes per year of CO2 have been safely injected and stored in the Tubåen sandstone (2,600 metres beneath the seabed and about 45-75 metres thick) since April 2008. Maximum injection is planned for 31-40 Mt, with 1.9 Mt injected to date.
In early 2010 Statoil announced that they had discovered that there was less storage capacity than expected at the Snohvit injection site. Measures are now being taken to increase Snohvit's capacity - like drilling new holes and/or fracturing the formation. A monitoring program has also been set-up to investigate the behavior of CO2 underground.
Project Link: Statoil Snohvit Project website
Other Sources and Press Releases:
Statoil Snohvit: Unlocking the frozen North
Snohvit: less capacity than expected (March 2010)
