Visit the North Sea oil field used to store greenhouse gas

"Greensands Future, which is backed by a consortium led by British multinational chemicals company Ineos, will become the EU's first large-scale offshore CO2 storage site, when commercial operations get underway in the next few months. The plan is to stash away around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 this year, potentially rising to eight million tonnes annually by 2030, the company claims. "That's almost 40% of the Danish emission reduction target. So that's quite impactful," says Gade."

"Mads Gade, CEO of Ineos Energy points to the huge pipes of the wellhead which, for decades, carried oil and gas up from below the seabed. "Instead of pulling the oil and gas up from the ground, we're going to inject the CO2 into the ground instead," he says. Ineos Energy Carbon Capture and Storage technology (CCS), involves capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide."

An almost-depleted oilfield in the North Sea will be converted into a large offshore carbon storage site called Greensand Future. The site lies about 250km off Denmark and uses existing platforms including the Nini rig and the larger Siri mother platform with a staffed control centre. Ineos Energy plans to capture and permanently store CO2 by injecting thousands of tonnes into old wellheads, starting with about 400,000 tonnes this year and potentially reaching eight million tonnes annually by 2030. The company claims this could account for nearly 40% of Denmark's emission reduction target. Critics warn CCS is costly and may reduce incentives to cut emissions, arguing cheaper reductions exist via wind, solar and electrification.

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