The purpose of the well was to investigate whether the area is suitable for storing CO2. The preliminary results are encouraging.
"It is very gratifying that the preliminary results from the drilling indicate that the area in question is suitable for storage of CO2," said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru. "This is an important part of the government's further work on the full-scale project for the capture, transport and storage of CO2."
If the full-scale project is realized, the well will be used to store CO2 from Norcem's cement production in Brevik and / or Fortum Oslo Heat's energy recovery plant in Oslo. Quality assurance of technical and financial support from the project is now underway.
The state is also in talks with the industry about possible support for investment and operation of the project. The well could also be used for storage of CO2 from facilities in other countries.
"The government has an ambition to realize a cost-effective solution for full-scale CO2 handling, given that this provides technology development in an international perspective. After targeted work by industry and the government for several years, the ground begins to fall into place. I am now working on finalizing a complete decision base for the government and the Storting," said Tina Bru.
The cost of the well is shared between the state and Equinor, Shell and Total. In the work on the exploration well, an extensive database has been obtained through the collection of core samples, logging, water samples and flow tests of the formation.
Extensive amounts of data have been acquired through coring, logging, sampling and a production test. So far, a sealing shale layer and the presence of good quality sandstone have been demonstrated in the reservoir. The partners in the project will now carry out further analyzes of the results, before they plan to submit a development plan for the CO2 storage.