Equinor and partners Shell and Total have completed the drilling of confirmation well 31/5-7 Eos south of the Troll field in the North Sea. The purpose was to determine the suitability of the reservoir in the Johansen formation for CO₂ storage.

“This is an important milestone in realizing the possibility of a CO₂ storage on the Norwegian continental shelf,” says Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s senior vice president for project development. “The preliminary results from the well so far have been positive. The drilling results will now be further analyzed before concluding,” says Tungesvik.

Extensive amounts of data have been acquired through coring, logging, sampling and a production test. So far, we have proven a sealing shale layer and the presence of good quality sandstone in the reservoir.

The partners in Northern Lights are analyzing these results as part of their final project’s decision process.

In line with a shared vision to stimulate necessary development of future CCS-projects (carbon, capture and storage) through sharing, the partnership has decided that well data can be freely shared with external parties and the information will therefore be available for download. The solution is not yet decided.

Located some 2500 meters below the seabed, this is the first well drilled in exploitation license 001. If the Northern Lights project is sanctioned, the well will be used for injection and storage of CO₂.

The Northern Lights template on the seabed. Credit: Equinor

The Northern Lights partners plan for a potential investment decision in the spring of 2020. Such an investment decision is subject to agreement between the partners and government authorities on an implementation agreement, as well as ESA approval of the project. The project is subject to final approval by Norwegian authorities.

Northern Lights:

The Northern Lights project includes the transportation, receipt and permanent storage of CO₂ in a reservoir in the northern North Sea. The storage project is part of the Norwegian State’s demonstration project “Full-scale CO₂ handling chain in Norway”, and includes CO₂ capture from up to two industrial plants in Eastern Norway.

If the partners succeed with the project, Northern Lights would be the first CO₂ storage with capacity to store CO₂ from multiple industrial sources. The storage could have potential to receive CO₂ from both Norwegian and European sources.