\n By James Brooks with AP\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 26\/11\/2025 – 11:54 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n
Appearing first as a dot on the horizon, the remote Nini oil field on Europe\u2019s rugged North Sea slowly comes into view from a helicopter.<\/p>\n
Used to extract fossil fuels, the field is now getting a second lease on life as a means of permanently storing planet-warming carbon dioxide beneath the seabed.<\/p>\n
In a process that almost reverses oil extraction, chemical giant INEOS plans to inject liquefied CO2 deep down into depleted oil reservoirs, 1,800 metres beneath the seabed.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press made a rare visit to the Siri platform, close to the unmanned Nini field, the final stage in INEOS\u2019 carbon capture and storage efforts, named Greensand Future.<\/p>\n
When the project begins commercial operations next year, Greensand is expected to become the European Union\u2019s first fully-operational offshore CO2 storage site.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists say carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, has a role to play in dealing with climate change but should not be used as an excuse by industries to avoid cutting emissions.<\/p>\n
Future plans<\/p>\n
Mads Gade, chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, says it will initially begin storing 363,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year, scaling up to as much as 7.3 million metric tonnes annually by 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cDenmark has the potential to actually store more than several hundred years of our own emissions,\u201d says Gade. \u201cWe are able to create an industry where we can support Europe in actually storing a lot of the CO2 here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greensand has struck deals with Danish biogas facilities to bury their captured carbon emissions in the Nini field\u2019s depleted reservoirs.<\/p>\n
A \u201cCO2 terminal\u201d that temporarily stores the liquefied gas is being built at the Port of Esbjerg, on the western coast of the Danish Jutland peninsula.<\/p>\n
A purpose-built carrier vessel, dubbed \u201cCarbon Destroyer 1,\u201d is also under construction in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Climate solution<\/p>\n
Proponents of carbon capture technology say it is a climate solution because it can remove the greenhouse gas that is the biggest driver of climate change and bury it deep underground.<\/p>\n
They note the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world\u2019s top body of climate scientists, has said the technology is a tool in the fight against global warming.<\/p>\n
The EU has proposed <\/a>developing at least 227 million metric tonnes of CO2 storage per year by 2040, as part of plans to reach \u201cnet zero\u201d emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n Gade says carbon capture and storage is one of the best means of cutting emissions.<\/p>\n “We don\u2019t want to deindustrialise Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to have actually a few instruments to decarbonise instead.\u201d<\/p>\n Experts at Denmark\u2019s geological survey say Greensand sandstone rock is well-suited for storing the liquefied CO2. Almost a third of the rock volume is made up of tiny cavities, said Niels Schovsbo, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that there (are) no reactions between the reservoir and the injected CO2. And we find that the seal rock on top of that has sufficient capacity to withhold the pressure that is induced when we are storing CO2 in the subsurface,\u201d added Schovsbo.<\/p>\n \u201cThese two methods makes it a perfect site for storage right there.\u201d<\/p>\n Limitations and criticism<\/p>\n While there are many carbon capture facilities around the world, the technology is far from the scale needed, sometimes uses fossil fuel energy in its operations and captures just a tiny fraction of worldwide emissions.<\/p>\n The Greensand project aims to bury up to 7.3 million metric tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. The International Energy Agency says nearly 34.5 billion metric tonnes of CO2 were emitted<\/a> globally last year.<\/p>\n