Copenhagen — Equinor and French gas grid operator GRTgaz have signed a deal for a carbon dioxide (CO2)transport system for captured CO2 from industrial emitters in France to storage offshore Norway, the Norwegian company said on Monday.The system will transport CO2 captured in France to permanent storage beneath the North Sea via the planned CO2 Highway Europe pipeline project, Equinor said in a statement.
The capacity in the initial phase will be 3 million to 5.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, and can be expanded to also accommodate CO2 captured at other industrial clusters in France, the Norwegian company added.
GRTGaz will develop and link a 30 kilometre (18.64 miles) onshore pipeline network in Dunkirk, France to Equinor’s planned CO2 Highway Europe, which also connects the Belgian city of Zeebrugge to storage sites under the seabed offshore Norway.
Norway and France in December of 2022 signed a letter of intent to cooperate on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a way to help prevent global warming.
Major oil and gas producer Norway plans to use CCS to store emissions from European industry and has designated geological formations deep beneath its seabed as reservoirs for CO2.
Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik
