Planning of full scale CCS at Mongstad continues

The planning of a full scale CO2-capture and storage (CCS) plant at Mongstad is in progress. There is, however, a need for further knowledge concerning the use of amine technology and possible effects on health and the environment.  Assessment of alternative capture technologies in addition to amine technology will be included in the project. As notified earlier, the Government will this week forward a document to the Norwegian Parliament concerning CCS at Mongstad.

The inclusion of additional capture technologies in the technology qualification process implies that qualification of capture technologies will be carried out prior to the engineering phase of the full scale project. Statoil, which is responsible for carrying out the project, estimates that the technology qualification will be in progress up to 3 years. The following engineering phase will last approximately 2 years, leading up to a basis for an investment decision no later than 2016. If qualification of at least one capture technology is completed before the three year period, the issue of technology selection will be addressed immediately. 

Background:
The full scale CCS-project is planned as the second phase of CCS at Mongstad. The first phase is the CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) which is under construction and planned to be in operation at the turn of this year. At TCM two different capture technologies (amine and chilled ammonia) will be tested on two different exhaust gases from the gas fired combined heat and power plant (CHP) and the refinery cracker.

The CCS activities at Mongstad are regulated in an agreement between the Norwegian state and Statoil. The Norwegian government has committed to finance the full scale CCS project as laid out in this agreement. TCM is owned by the Norwegian state (75,12%), Statoil (20%), Shell (2,44%) and Sasol (2,44%).