The Ministry of Energy announces one area in the North Sea for companies to apply for exploration licenses related to CO2-storage. Large-scale CO2-storage is important to reach the climate goals. Norway has great potential for storage on the continental shelf.

Until now, a total of 13 licenses have been awarded for CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf; 1 exploitation licence and 12 exploration licenses. Awards of such areas are a prerequisite for large-scale carbon capture and storage. A commercial company has made inquiries to the ministry with the desire regarding awards of one specific storage area. The inquiry forms the basis for the area now being announced.

‘It’s good that there is interest in areas that can be used for CO2 storage. The purpose of allocating land is to be able to offer stakeholders in Europe large-scale CO₂ storage on commercial terms,’ said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.

Announcement and possible allocation of area for a storage permit will take place after individual application. The permitting process is initiated by companies applying for permits according to the storage regulations, after having established that they have sufficiently good basis for applying

The application deadline is 23.04.2025 at 12:00 pm.

Background

Activities aimed at surveying and exploring for subsea reservoirs for the storage of CO₂, as well as exploitation, transport, and storage of CO₂ in such reservoirs on the Norwegian continental shelf are subject to the regulations on transportation and storage of CO₂ into subsea reservoirs on the continental shelf (regulation 5th December 2014 no. 1517).

Anyone who is conducting such storage operations needs a permit in accordance with the regulations. In addition, on February 20th, 2020, the Petroleum Safety Authority established regulations on safety and the working environment for the transport and storage of CO₂ on the continental shelf (the CO₂ safety regulations).

The Norwegian government are facilitating the socio-economically profitable storage of CO₂ on the Norwegian continental shelf. Companies that have the necessary expertise and that have specific, industrial plans that entail a need for storage on a commercial basis can apply to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for a licence adapted to the needs of the business.

The government will conduct a predictable, efficient, and flexible process to award industrial players access to relevant storage options. Areas that are relevant for awards will be announced, among other things, to ensure competition. In line with the regulations on transportation and storage of CO₂ into subsea reservoirs on the continental shelf, the ministry normally expects to award an exploration licence prior to awarding an exploitation licence in a relevant area. Exploration licences can be awarded to one or more competent companies.

If a licence is awarded to several companies, the ministry will, generally, appoint one of the companies as operator. The award of exploration licences will normally be done with a work program including one binding phase and subsequent conditional phases with decision points for the continuation or relinquishment. Relinquishing allows other stakeholders with storage need to apply for awards of the area.

The work program will normally end with a demand that the companies make an investment decision on the realization of CO₂ a storage, and that they then submit a plan for development and operation (PUD) for the storage location or relinquish of the area.