A story about the Johansen Formation

CO₂ from Northern Lights will be stored in the Johansen formation south of the Troll field. Read the story of the search for CO₂ storage and the milestones along the way.

Excellent reservoir quality

Norway has extensive experience with storage of CO₂ in geological structures. Since 1996, approximately 1 million tonnes of CO₂ have been captured annually from the produced hydrocarbon gas at the Sleipner West field in the North Sea. The CO₂ is injected for storage in the Utsira Formation, a geological formation above the natural gas field, but more than 800 meters below the seabed. The Utsira Formation is a sandstone with excellent reservoir quality that belongs to the huge Utsira-Skade aquifer. The injected CO₂ is buoyant and accumulates in a gentle structural closure below the overlying shale caprock.

Gas production from the Gudrun and Utgard fields was added to the processing facility at Sleipner in 2014 and 2019 respectively, thus contributing to the CO₂ volumes stored in the Utsira Formation.

In connection with treatment of the well stream from the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea, for LNG production at Melkøya, about 0.7 million tonnes of CO₂ have annually been safely injected and stored in the Tubåen Formation and the Stø Formation.

CO₂ storage offshore

The CO₂ storage site within the exploitation license 001 (EL001), will be the third CO₂ storage site to be developed offshore Norway. The development project is named Northern Lights (NL) by the license holders.

Maturing a possible CO₂ storage site, ready for CO₂ injection, can take several years. The timeline presented here is to show which initiatives preceded the decision to submit a Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for the NL project.

The selection processes for CO₂ storage reservoirs for the gas fields Sleipner Vest and Snøhvit were constrained by the field development plans for their associated petroleum projects, while the selection process for NL has been different as it is not tied to field development for petroleum production.

The selection process for possible CO₂ storage sites started with a screening process on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in 2007. This was further matured in several stages and it will carry on into the future as additional CO₂ storage sites is expected to be developed. The key events in the process are described below in chronological order.

The selection processes for CO₂ storage reservoirs (2005-2010)

2005

CLIMIT – a national program for research, development and testing of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technologies was established by The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) in 2005 to support the development of capture technology for CO₂ management of gas-fired power plants. In 2008, the support scheme was expanded to power production based on all fossil fuels, and in 2010 industrial emissions of CO₂ were also included.

Significant technology development has taken place through projects funded by the CLIMIT program, and a considerable expertise capacity is established in Norway, both within research communities and the industry partners. Several projects through the program have helped to provide assurance around efficient and safe storage of CO₂ in the Johansen Formation within the license EL001.

North Sea Basin Task Force was established. Its purpose is to develop common principles for managing and regulating the transport, injection and permanent sub-sea storage of CO₂ in the North Sea Basin. Today the Task Force is composed of public and private bodies from Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Flanders.

2007

Gassnova was established in 2005 as an administrative agency under the MPE. Gassnova SF, a public enterprise, was established in June 2007, reporting to MPE for the purpose of managing the State’s interests in CCS projects.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) started screening suitable locations for storing  CO₂ that was planned to be captured from gas-fired power plants at Kårstø and Mongstad on the west coast of Norway.

A report prepared for the MPE by Gassnova, Gassco AS and NPD concluded that CO₂ can be stored safely offshore Norway. In the North Sea Basin, the most suitable areas seem to be in the Utsira geological Formation and the Johansen geological Formation on the Horda Platform.

2008

3D seismic was collected by the NPD south of the Troll field in the North Sea. The purpose was to map whether the Lower Jurassic Johansen Formation south of the Troll field could be suitable for permanent storage of CO₂, and to propose where injection wells for CO₂ could be located.

2008-2014 – The Government sponsored several detailed studies of CO₂ storage potential in the Johansen Formation and in the vicinity of the giant Troll gas field. New seismic data was collected by Gassnova south of the 2008 seismic and east of the Troll field. A thorough study was performed on the Johansen Formation and the Upper Jurassic Sognefjord Formation by Gassnova and several consultants, and a report was presented in 2012 as a result from this study. This revealed two areas of interest; the Smeaheia area east of the Troll field and the Johansen Formation south of the Troll field.

2010

One North Sea Report presents a study into North Sea cross-border CO₂ transport and storage where the potential for CO₂ emissions from the industry around the North Sea Basin and potential storage sites capacity, was analyzed, Figure 1.

Norwegian CO₂ Storage Forum was established, chaired by NPD with members from academia, research institutes, oil companies and MPE. The purpose of the forum was to act as a contact point for the participants and give an overview of ongoing activities related to CO₂  storage on the Norwegian shelf. The purpose of the forum was also to contribute to see the activities in context and help the participants benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience.

The selection processes for CO₂ storage reservoirs (2011-2015)

2011

MPE invited the industry to nominate promising areas in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea for exploration for potential reservoirs for permanent storage of CO₂ from Mongstad refinery. Five areas were nominated as potential locations for storage to explore further and  NPD gave recommendation to MPE on areas for a first CO₂ storage concession round.

NPD published theCO₂ storage Atlas for the Norwegian part of the North Sea Basin. The objective of the atlas was to provide an overview of geological formations and structures suitable for secure long-term storage of CO₂ in the Norwegian part of the North Sea Basin. A system for characterization and maturation of potential CO₂ storage sites was also developed.

2013

The Government pointed out a new direction for CCS. The development of full-scale CO₂-capture at Mongstad was discontinued and replaced by a CCS program. The Government’s revised CCS strategy included a program for realization of full-scale CCS projects in Norway. A new pre-feasibility study for alternative CCS projects in Norway was commissioned from Gassnova SF.

2014

CO₂ Storage Atlas for the entire NCS was published by NPD, Figure 2. The atlas presents a possible storage potential of more than 80 billion tonnes of CO₂ on the NCS, which is equivalent to the current level of Norwegian CO₂ emissions, for 1000 years. https://www.npd.no/en/facts/carbon-storage/

The Norwegian regulation for CO₂ transport and storage was published.

2015

Gassnova SF delivered a pre-feasibility study to the MPE. Gassnova was granted funding to initiate a series of CCS feasibility studies based on results of the pre-feasibility study.

MPE and Statoil ASA signed an agreement to explore the possibilities for geological storage of CO₂ in three different areas on the NCS, Figure 3. Different development concepts were also to be studied. This was part of the MPE’s feasibility study.

The selection processes for CO₂ storage reservoirs (2016-2020)

2016

MPE presented the feasibility study, showing it is possible to realize a full-scale CCS project in Norway.

Gassnova delivered the study for three CO₂ capture plants and one CO₂ storage site for a new full-scale CCS project. Equinor Energy AS (Equinor) performed the storage site study and recommended further studies of the Smeaheia area, Figure 4. Gassco delivered a feasibility study for CO₂ transport from a capture site to a storage site, by shipping from the east coast of Norway to the west coast.

2016-2020

Equinor formed the Northern Lights (NL) partnership with A/S Norske Shell and Total E&P Norge AS. NL carried out Concept and Front-End Engineering & Design (FEED) for new CO₂ storage site with assistance of state subsidies. Gassnova coordinated the studies with the two CO₂ capture sites that progressed from Feasibility stage to Concept stage. NL decided to change storage location within Horda Platform region from Smeaheia area east of Troll to the Johansen Formation south of Troll and made use of previous state funded work and seismic data from 2008-2014.

2018

MPE announced the first exploitation licensing for CO₂ storage within area south of the Troll field, Figure 4. This area included the area of interest for CO₂ storage in the Johansen Formation.

2019

MPE granted Equinor an exploitation permit for CO₂ storage, EL001.

2020

The first exploration well, 31/5-7, Eos, was drilled in the license. The well showed good potential for CO₂ storage.

NL partnership submitted a development plan, PDO, for EL001 to MPE.