Equinor is performing front-end engineering and design (Feed)-studies on storage with project partners Anglo-Dutch Shell and French Total. 

An exploitation permit is necessary to continue the Feed studies which will rovide more accurate cost estimates necessary for an investment decision, Equinor said.

This is the first exploitation permit for storage of CO₂ on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The allocation is made under the CO2-storage regulations of 2014, it said. There are CO₂ injection projects in Norway such as at Sleipner, but they are linked to enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. 

Equinor, together with project partners Shell and Total, will now mature the storage concept towards a plan for development and operations (PDO) scheduled for delivery in 2019. An investment decision for the Norwegian full-scale carbon capture and storage project is expected in 2020/2021.