TotalEnergies to evaluate Danish CO2 storage opportunities

French TotalEnergies said February 6 it had been awarded two licenses to explore CO₂ storage potential in the Danish sector of the North Sea.

The licences, spanning about 2,118 km² some 250 km off the west coast of Denmark, are also close to the Harald gas field, operated by TotalEnergies and where it is also assessing CO₂ storage opportunities within the framework of its Bifrost project as well as in a saline aquifer that could increase CO₂ storage volumes.

Alongside Denmark’s state-owned Nordsofonden, with a 20% interest, TotalEnergies, holding an 80% interest in the licences, would be the future operator of the offshore CO₂ storage licenses. It will evaluate a project that could ultimately transport and sequester more than 5mn mt/yr of CO₂ by repurposing existing infrastructure in the Danish North Sea and building new facilities.

“With its large geological storage potential and its proximity to major industrial emitters in Central Europe, Denmark can play a leading role in carbon capture and storage on the continent,” said Arnaud Le Foll, senior vice president New Business - Carbon Neutrality at TotalEnergies. “With the Northern Lights project under construction in Norway and projects under development in the Netherlands and the UK, the North Sea area will be the main contributor to our objective of 10mn mt/yr of CO₂ storage by 2030 and to the decarbonisation of the European economy.”