• Wintershall Dea awarded operatorship of “Luna” CO₂ storage licence in Norwegian North Sea
• Licence provides storage potential of more than 5 million tonnes CO₂ per year
• Important steppingstone for ambitions to establish extensive CCS value chain and become a leading player in carbon management

Wintershall Dea and its partner CapeOmega have been awarded a CO₂ storage licence in the Norwegian North Sea by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Wintershall Dea will be operator of the Luna licence which is located 120km west of Bergen, and is estimated to hold a CO₂ storage injection capacity of up to 5 million tonnes per year.

As Europe’s leading independent gas and oil company, with ambitions to build a broad carbon management business, Wintershall Dea sees the award as an important building block towards developing the Norwegian Continental Shelf into a leading CO₂ storage area in Europe.

“This award marks a new chapter of our activities in Norway. With our proven track record, our subsea expertise and our ambition to contribute to Europe’s climate goals, we are ideally placed to help deliver the infrastructure Norway needs to become a hub for European carbon storage,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Chief Technical Officer at Wintershall Dea.

Wintershall Dea and CapeOmega are both working intensively on the further development of Norway’s energy infrastructure and are focused on driving forward decarbonisation.

CEO of CapeOmega, Evy Glørstad, said: “This award is very important for CapeOmega and illustrates our efforts and strategy to provide infrastructure for the energy transition. We have worked closely with Wintershall Dea, sharing the same ambitions and goals to contribute in reducing the CO₂ footprint in Europe. As partner, we are also willing to fast-track the development in a new partnership. We look forward to maturing Luna with Wintershall Dea and continue investing in decarbonisation.”

Wintershall Dea regards the award of the Luna licence as an important milestone in the development of an extensive Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain, connecting European heavy industry with North Sea basins capable of storing carbon emissions. Germany is the largest emitters of CO₂ in Europe, while Norway has the largest storage potential for CCS.

The company also plans to build a CO₂ hub in Wilhelmshaven, CO₂nnectNow, on the German North Sea coast to enable the collection and transport of carbon dioxide.

In August, Wintershall Dea signed a co-operation agreement with Equinor to pursue the development of a CCS value chain connecting continental European CO₂ emitters with offshore storage sites on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. CCS is essential for heavy industries’ economic and environmental viability, which are producing crucially important products like cement, steel and chemicals from industrial sectors employing millions of Europeans.

Wintershall Dea has been a reliable partner in the Norwegian oil and gas sector for almost 50 years. This licence award shows that the company intends to develop its presence at the Norwegian Continental Shelf for the next decades to come.

Wintershall Dea is operator of the licence with 60 per cent of the shares. CapeOmega has 40 per cent of the shares.