Sleipner partnership to release CO2 storage datasets

Harald Pettersen, Equinor

EQUINOR and its partners are to release datasets from the Sleipner field, the world’s first offshore CCS plant. The move is aimed at advancing innovation and development in the area of CO₂ storage.

Last year, UN climate experts warned that rapid and unprecedented changes in society are needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The report acknowledged that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will play a crucial role in decarbonising industry.

Sleipner operator Equinor and its partners have used the Sleipner facility for offshore CCS since 1996. It is the longest ongoing CO₂ storage project in the world. It captures and stores 1m t/y of CO₂ from natural gas. The Sleipner field is located in the North Sea.

The Sleipner partnership will publish the datasets in September, via the CO₂ Data Share Consortium. The consortium, led by the European research organisation SINTEF, is an open international network for data and knowledge exchange.

The Sleipner partnership and SINTEF expect that making the data openly available will help to advance innovation and development in the area of CO₂ storage. 

Equinor says it has shared CO₂ storage and monitoring data with the research community for the past 15 years.

Torbjørn F Folgerø, Chief Digital Officer and Senior VP at Equinor, said: “For over 20 years we have had first-hand experience of safe storage of CO₂ in a reservoir. We believe this insight can be valuable for industry, research communities, and others working on making CO₂ storage a central part of the ongoing energy transition into the low-carbon future.”

Eli Aamot, Executive VP at SINTEF, said: “Ever since Equinor shared the first Sleipner datasets, researchers across the world have used it to understand flow processes, enable more accurate predictions and develop methods for safe CO₂ storage. Access to the Sleipner datasets can accelerate the development of knowledge and technologies essential for operating CO₂ storage sites and enable faster deployment of CCS, a measure the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states is critical to limit global warming.”

In 2018, the CO₂ Data Share Consortium launched CO₂ Data Share. The consortium-driven project aims to build a digital platform to share datasets from pioneering CO₂ storage projects. This is expected to improve understanding, reduce costs, and minimise uncertainties associated with CO₂ storage. An online prototype for data sharing is expected in June, with the digital CO₂ storage data platform expected in September. 

The Sleipner licensees include: Equinor Energy (58.35%), ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway (17.24%), and LOTOS Exploration and Production Norge (15.00%), and KUFPEC Norway (9.41%).