- Norway plans to store captured carbon dioxide from the oil and gas industry under the North Sea’s seabed.
- This project, called Longship, aims to reduce emissions but raises safety concerns from environmentalists.
- CCS technology is expensive but is seen as a potential tool for hard-to-decarbonize sectors.
Norway has big plans to pump waste carbon from oil and gas operations and heavy industry under the seabed of the North Sea to be stored safely underground. It believes this method will be key to decarbonizing its fossil fuel activities in the coming years and supporting a green transition. However, some fear that this process cannot be done safely without risk to the environment. Others believe that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is merely a band-aid on a bullet wound and that countries should be fixing their carbon problem at the source rather than mitigating the effects of fossil fuel production. Nonetheless, so long as the world relies on oil and gas, companies will be looking for ways to produce lower-carbon fossil fuels through innovative methods, such as CCS technology.
The Norwegian government plans to establish a “central storage camp” in the North Sea, where it will inject waste carbon to be stored rather than released into the atmosphere. CCS activities are becoming increasingly popular for companies working in hard-to-abate industries, as a means of decarbonizing operations. Norway aims to show the world that CCS technology can be used to store carbon safely underground through its Longship project. The country has long used CCS technology to capture and inject carbon from fossil fuel production into rock formations on the continental shelf and believes this project will help significantly reduce industry emissions.
Terje Aasland, Norway’s Energy Minister, stated “I think it will prove to the world that this technology is important and available.” He added, “I think the North Sea, where we can store CO2 permanently and safely, may be a central storage camp for several industries and countries and Europe.” Aasland also responded to critics of the technology explaining, “It’s several thousand meters under the seabed, it’s safe, it’s permanent and it’s a good way to tackle the climate emissions.”
Nevertheless, environmentalists worry that the process could cause permanent harm to the environment. They point to Norway’s previous CCS projects, Sleipner and Snøhvit, which both experienced challenges in getting off the ground. Norway is using these projects as success stories to be emulated, but some question the long-term viability of this model. Further, while the project will help reduce the emissions of hard-to-abate industries, it will not be able to store anywhere near enough carbon to make a significant impact on climate change, with greater decarbonization efforts needed to make a difference.
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