Norway’s StatoilHydro has been storing almost 2,800 tonnes of CO2 removed from natural gas produced on its Sleipner West field in the North Sea every day, and believes the technique is both feasible and safe.
The CO2 is injected and stored in the Utsira formation, containing porous sand rock filled with salt water, rather than being emitted into the atmosphere. This sandstone formation extends over a large area in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and the facility has been online since 1996, recording a very high regularity.
The company believes that carbon storage under the seabed may be an important tool in the efforts to slow global warming and from its extensive experience in this area, suggests that the much discussed method is both practical and a safe concept.
StatoilHydro says its research and monitoring of the carbon injection into the Utsira formation show that the greenhouse gas is retained in the formation and that this is an environmentally friendly and safe way of reducing climate gas emissions.
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