Gasunie, partners make FID on first CO₂ storage project in the Netherlands

Gasunie, through a joint venture with Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, made positive final investment decision (FID) to develop the first major CO₂ transport and storage system in the Netherlands (the Porthos project).

Final contracts will be awarded, and construction of the €1.3 billion project is expected to begin in 2024. The Porthos system is expected to be operational in 2026.

Porthos will store about 2.5 million tonnes/year of CO₂ for 15 years from Rotterdam based companies Air Liquide, Air Products, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell, equal to about 10% of Rotterdam industry’s emissions.

The companies will invest in their own capture installations to supply CO₂ to a collective pipeline that runs through the Rotterdam port area. A compressor station will pressurize the CO₂.

The CO₂ will be transported through an offshore pipeline to the P18A platform in the North Sea, about 20 km off the coast. From there, the CO₂ will be pumped into depleted gas fields P18-2, P18-4, and P18-6 in a sealed reservoir of porous sandstone at a depth of 3-4 km under the seabed.

Porthos has partnerships with TAQA Energy, the present operator of the P18A platform and P18 gas fields, and contractors and suppliers Denys NV, Allseas, LMR Drilling GmbH, Mannesmann Grossrohr GmbH, Corinth Pipeworks, Equans, Ensco Offshore, Van der Ven, and Bonatti.

The European Union, through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Energy, declared Porthos a project of common interest and awarded €102 million in subsidy.