Equinor Finds Site for CO2 Storage

Norway's Equinor has completed a North Sea well aimed at assessing whether a reservoir is suitable for CO₂ storage, the company reported on March 5.

The 31/5-7 Eos well was drilled south of the Troll gas field as part of the Northern Lights project involving Equinor, Shell and Total. The partners obtained a permit for the well in November.

Extensive well data has been collected through coring, logging, sampling and a production test, Equinor said. This data suggests that the Cook and Johansen formations are good candidates for CO₂ storage, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) noted separately.

"This is an important milestone in realising the possibility of a CO₂ storage on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Equinor's senior vice president for project development, Geir Tungesvik, said in a statement. "The preliminary results from the well so far have been positive. The drilling results will now be further analysed before concluding."

"It’s always exciting when an exploration well is drilled. That was also the case here, where we not only hoped to prove a water-filled reservoir, but a reservoir that would be well suited for injection and storage of CO₂," Eva Halland, the NPD's manager for the storage project, added. "The well absolutely seems to have done the job, and it is an important premise in the Norwegian full-scale project."

 Northern Lights' goal is to develop a full-scale carbon, capture and storage chain in Norway by 2024. Its partners aim to take a final investment decision this spring, after reaching an implementation agreement with authorities and securing necessary approvals. Equinor signed memoranda in September with seven European industrial companies on co-operation in the handling of CO₂ and its transport for storage.