Poland eyes to Norway to kick-start its storage of CO2 pollution in the atmosphere underneath the Barents Sea. For that it is willing to pay 1 billion US dollars, via its energy company Orlen.
So far a subsidiary of the state-owned energy giant has only signed a letter of intent, but it will likely go through with the deal which will make Orlen via a subsidiary a player in the so-called Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) market. CCUS is seen by many, including the UN, as key in tackling the climate crisis.
On the Norwegian side it is Horisont Energi that has offered its Polaris programme for carbon storage to Orlen (via Orlen’s subsidiary PGNiG Upstream Norway (PUN)). “The Letter of Intent lays the ground for clearing formalities with authorities necessary for PUN to become operator and acquire a participating interest in the Polaris Licence. The process of onboarding PUN is expected to be completed by early December this year,” a statement by Horisont Energi of 5 September 2023 reads.
Most of the CO2 that will be stored within the Polaris project comes from the Barents Blue ammonia plant, that Horisont is developing together with fertilizer company Fertiberia in a 50/50 joint venture. “Although a preferred CO2 storage solution for the Barents Blue project, the Polaris Licence is expected to provide additional storage volumes for other CO2 customers,” the press release reads. | © 2023 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured image: press computer rendering provided by Horisont