Norwegian clean energy company Horisont Energi (Horisont) has announced that the Norwegian Ministry of Energy has approved PGNiG Upstream Norway (PUN) as operator and partner with Horisont in Polaris – the only carbon dioxide (CO2) storage site located in the Barents Sea.
Marking a key milestone in the development of Polaris, the appointment follows a sales purchase agreement announced on 11th Dec 2023 making PUN a licence operator.
The two hold a participating interest of 50% in the EXCL003 CO2 licence Polaris – which will provide CO2 storage for Horisont and Fertiberia’s Barents Blue project.
“With PGNiG Upstream Norway now in place as operator and partner, we have a very strong fundament [sic] to unlock the potential of Polaris as a vehicle to reduce emissions on an industrial scale,” said Bjorgulf Haukelidsaeter Eidesen, CEO of Horisont.
According to Horisont, the advancement of Polaris to handle sequestration of CO2 from multiple customers strengthens the commercial basis for the carbon storage business case in Northern Norway, in addition to development of a European carbon value chain.
“The Polaris carbon storage project is a significant emission management initiative in Europe with expected ripple effects far beyond the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” commented Daniel Obajtek, ORLEN’s CEO and President of the Management Board.
There are ongoing ‘advanced dialogues’ between Horisont and E.ON on CO2 storage capacity for the Polaris carbon storage licence.
The partners have also previously agreed to develop and share the costs of shipping CO2 from Central Europe to Norway.
Expected to be operational by 2025, the Polaris project has the potential to store up to ten million tonnes per year of CO2 in the Barents Sea.
source: gasworld.com