Key facts
- The Greensand CO2 storage facility in Denmark, led by INEOS Energy, launched on Friday.
- It is the first full-scale CO2 storage site in the European Union.
- The project expects to store up to 400,000 tons of CO2 annually in its first commercial phase.
- Capacity is planned to scale toward 4-8 million tons per year.
- CO2 will be sourced from Danish biomethane plants, liquefied, and shipped to the Nini West reservoir offshore.
- INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe stated the project proves that industrial competitiveness and emissions reduction can coexist.
The Greensand carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility, a project led by INEOS Energy in partnership with Harbour Energy and the Danish North Sea Fund (Nordsøfonden), was inaugurated on Friday by King Frederik X of Denmark. This marks the European Union's first full-scale CO2 storage site. The project aims to store up to 400,000 tons of CO2 annually during its initial commercial phase, with plans to expand its capacity to between 4 and 8 million tons per year.
CO2 will be sourced primarily from Danish biomethane plants. After capture, the carbon dioxide will be liquefied, transported by truck to a terminal at Port Esbjerg, and then shipped aboard the Carbon Destroyer 1, the EU's first purpose-built CO2 carrier, to the Nini West reservoir. This depleted oil field is located approximately 250 kilometers offshore in the Danish North Sea, about 1,800 meters beneath the seabed.
INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe emphasized the project's role in enabling industrial competitiveness while reducing emissions, stating, "Greensand proves it can be done." He also criticized "Europe’s crippling energy and carbon policies" that he believes are harming the chemical industry.
While Greensand is the EU's first carbon storage site, it is not Europe's first. The Northern Lights CCS project in Norway, a non-EU member, began storing CO2 offshore last year. Partners Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell in the Northern Lights project have decided to expand its transport and storage capacity to at least 5 million tons of CO2 per year, following a commercial agreement with Swedish energy provider Stockholm Exergi for the storage of up to 900,000 tons of biogenic CO2 annually.