The Norwegian National Budget is Crucial for Carbon Capture and Storage

At a breakfast seminar organized by SINTEF, Norwegian Oil Industry Association and ZERO, the government got contingent praises for the fact that investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) has come into a good and constructive track. Yet no one dares to open champagne bottles before we see the initiative further followed up with money in this autumn's budget.

The theme of the seminar was the conclusions of Gassnova and Gassco in their studies of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Three industrial projects have been evaluated, and all three are recommended to be developed in a front end engineering and design phase (FEED), with the goal of investment decision and construction. Together, these three players can cut emissions of 1.3 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, as much as a million cars.

The main conclusion after Thursday's breakfast seminar is that all the three projects should be developed further, and that the ground is prepared for this. But several participants expressed concern that there still doesn't exist a long-term, credible plan or long-term financial instruments to finance CCS in Norway. So the thrill of what is to come in this autumn's budget is therefore great.

- To keep the schedule it is very important that adequate budgetary decisions are made already this fall. Now the bar is high for what the government must submit to the state budget, says adviser Camilla Skriung from ZERO.

Important that storage is developed in parallell

- The S in CCS will move the development of carbon capture and storage chain from powerpoint presentations to real projects, said Skalmeraas in Statoil.

A full chain of CO₂ capture in Norway, with the possibility of expansion and further development, can provide the basis for new industry and new jobs. The storage option that Statoil presented has capacity enough to, together with flexible transport solutions, facilitate the realization of new capture projects, both in Norway and abroad.

No promises but high expectations

The seminar was concluded with a conversation between Deputy Minister Ingvil Tybring-Gjedde (FrP) and head and deputy head of the energy and environment committee, Ola Elvestuen (V) and Terje Aasland (AP). No promises were made, but the new interest in realizing CCS across political party lines, builds up high expectations for this autumn's budget procedure.

- 12.6 billion in investments are a lot, but can we take the risk. The answer must come in this year's budget, Terje Aasland stated firmly, adding to the huge pressure on the budget negotiations in the autumn. (Zero CO₂)