In June, Gassnova awarded Statoil the contract for the first phase of the project. Norske Shell and Total E&P Norge are now entering as equal partners while Statoil will lead the project. All the partners will contribute people, experience, and financial support.

The first phase of this CO₂ project could reach a capacity of approximately 1.5 million ton per year. The project will be designed to accommodate additional CO₂ volumes aiming to stimulate new commercial carbon capture projects in Norway, Europe and more globally across the world. In this way, the project has the potential to be the first storage project site in the world receiving CO₂ from industrial sources in several countries.

The storage project will store CO₂ captured from onshore industrial facilities in Eastern Norway. This CO₂ will be transported by ship from the capture facilities to a receiving terminal located onshore on the west-coast of Norway. At the receiving terminal CO₂ will be transferred from the ship to intermediate storage tanks, prior to being sent through a pipeline on the seabed to injection wells east of the Troll field on the NCS. There are three possible locations for the receiving terminal; a final selection will be made later this year.

The objective for the project, which is supported by Gassnova and other relevant governmental stakeholders, is to stimulate necessary development of CCS so the long-term climate targets in Norway and the EU can be reached. The collaboration will form basis for establishing a further partnership for the construction and operational phases.