Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne says The North Sea could be switched from a depleting oil and gas basin to a site for storing CO2

Reuters

The North Sea could be switched from a depleting oil and gas basin to a site for storing CO₂ under the seabed, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Dec. 15.

The French oil firm is one of the partners in the Northern Lights project, which aimed to bury CO₂ underground and help companies meet climate targets by preventing the heat-trapping gas from being released into the atmosphere.

The Norwegian government, which is financing 80% of the 6.9 billion crowns ($791 million) needed for the first stage of development, provided funding for the project Dec. 15, having announced its backing in September.

“The North Sea is offering a big potential to Europe because we can imagine hydrocarbon production will diminish, in particular in the Netherlands, Denmark and some part of the UK,” Pouyanne said during a news conference.

“There could be life beyond these depleted fields to develop an active carbon storage industry,” he said, speaking alongside the CEOs of Equinor and Shell, Total’s Northern Lights partners, and Norway’s oil minister.

Total and Shell are already planning to convert Dutch offshore gas fields into carbon storage sites, in a project called Aramis.

In Britain, Total, Shell and Equinor are part of the Net Zero Teesside project operated by BP, the first carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) project in that country.

Total is also looking at storing CO₂ underneath the Danish part of the North Sea, where it is the largest operator of offshore oil and gas platforms, though this is still an early stage, Pouyanne said.

Total is also eyeing capturing the CO₂ emissions of its oil refinery in Normandy, northern France, and transporting them to Norway for burial, he said.

The International Energy Agency says carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is vital for reducing global CO₂ emissions to prevent dangerous climate warming.

CCS could also be used to capture CO₂ emissions when hydrogen is produced from natural gas.

In October, Microsoft became the first global company to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Norwegian project, and will be a technology partner too.