These projects have the potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding and growth of carbon storage technology, whilst supporting Europe's wider CO2 emission reduction targets for 2030 and beyond.
Fossil fuels have fuelled human progress over the past 260 years. But the world is demanding change. Around the world industry is under pressure to break its dependence on oil and gas and find renewable alternatives. And INEOS is responding to the challenge.
INEOS is already making inroads – in exploiting low carbon technologies, cutting emissions and improving the energy efficiency of its plants.
But it is also heavily involved in carbon capture and storage projects in Europe and the US.
At Grangemouth in Scotland, INEOS and Petroineos are an integral part of the Scottish Cluster, partnering with the Acorn Project to capture and store up to one million tonnes of CO2 by 2027.
The site is also working to develop Scotland’s first carbon capture and storage system, linking Scotland’s industrial heartland to the Acorn CO2 transport and storage system in North East Scotland.
In Antwerp, Belgium, INEOS is part of the Antwerp@C consortium to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of building CO2 infrastructure to support future carbon capture utilisation and storage.
The project has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by nine million tonnes between now and 2030.
In Houston, Texas, INEOS is one of 11 companies supporting the large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage technology that could lead to capturing and permanently storing up to 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030 and about 100 million tonnes by 2040.
The potential for the Greensand project to store up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 per annum will contribute significantly to Denmark’s 2030 overall emissions reduction target
And in Denmark, INEOS Greensand is the first project of its kind in Europe to use enormous gas reservoirs under the North Sea for the permanent storage of carbon.
The Danish project has the potential to store up to eight million tonnes of CO2 every year in the INEOS-operated Siri and Nini areas as they cease production.
As INCH went to press, the Greensand consortium was poised to file a grant application with the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program in Denmark.
If the application is successful, the consortium hopes to start work by the end of this year, with the offshore injection pilot taking place in late 2022.
“Greensand has brought together a strong consortium of 29 companies,” said Mads Weng Gade, Head of country, Denmark and Commercial Director INEOS Energy. “They are key players from Denmark and around the world."
The project will permanently store up to 90% of CO2 from power plants, steel foundries, and cement plants.
It will be captured onshore and transported to an offshore platform by ship.
From there, using the existing oil platform, the CO2 will be injected in liquid form into the reservoirs more than a mile below the seabed where it will naturally fill the empty oil and gas wells.
Brian Gilvary joined INEOS earlier this year as executive chairman of its new business INEOS Energy and is a man with a wealth of experience in the energy industry.
He believes energy-intensive industries must find a way to deal with the CO2 emissions associated with climate change if they are to decarbonise their operations and ensure the survival of industries that the world cannot live without, such as power and heating.
“That’s the big challenge for industry and also the planet,” he said. “Because even when the world was completely shut down during the pandemic, it was still consuming over 80 million barrels of oil a day, and oil was still the primary energy source.”
The Greensand project, he said, would significantly contribute to INEOS’ understanding and growth of carbon storage technology – and help future ventures.
INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants INEOS to be at the forefront of the industry and believes Brian will provide the experience and leadership to achieve that aim.
“We are delighted that someone of Brian’s caliber has agreed to join us at a time of significant transformation in the energy industry,” he said.
Within months of Brian’s appointment, he had worked with the team at INEOS Energy to reposition its assets.
That led to the transformational acquisition of all Hess’ oil-producing assets in Denmark, and the sale of an INEOS-owned oil and gas business in Norway to open up fresh opportunities to further reinvest in the energy transition.
“Even by INEOS’ standards, those deals materialised in a fairly short window,” he said.
INEOS Energy now owns all Denmark’s Syd Arne oil field and plans to boost production over the next 20 years.
It doesn’t worry INEOS that Denmark intends to ban oil and gas exploration and production by 2050.
“We know there is no more exploration after 2050 but that’s not what we are looking at,” said Brian, BP’s former financial officer. “What it does do is set a timetable for us to run these assets through to the life of the fields. Our production will be well finished by 2050.”
What the deal with Hess also does is strengthen INEOS’ position – and its ability to enter the next phase of the Greensand project.
Brian, who was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Energy Council for his outstanding contribution to the industry, retired from BP last year.
But then INEOS came knocking...
“INEOS is an extraordinary, pioneering company and it’s too exciting an industry not to be part of,” he said.
He believes INEOS will play a crucial role in the energy transition – due to its assets, its technology and the drive and determination of its people to get things done.
“The oil and gas industry will be a big part of the solution to the issue of climate change,” he said. “And INEOS will play an important role in this energy transition, be it providing energy through oil and gas over the next few decades, or in the future, through alternative energy solutions such as hydrogen and carbon capture.”
He added: “It is a truly leading, technology company that will be able to compete across the spectrum of the energy transition.”
$150 million deal will reshape INEOS’ energy business
INEOS Energy’s decision to buy all Hess’ oil-producing assets in Denmark will transform INEOS’ fortunes in the North Sea. Executive Chairman Brian Gilvary said the $150 million deal, agreed earlier this year, would:
- STRENGTHEN INEOS’ portfolio
- IMPROVE its balance of oil and gas assets, which had been heavily weighed down by gas.
- PROVIDE opportunities for growth and
- UNLOCK operational and cost synergies
“We had been in a position in Denmark where we either had to transform or get out,” he said. “This deal represents a major step in reshaping our energy business.”
It also means INEOS now owns all Denmark’s Syd Arne oil field and Hess’ 4.8% stake in the INEOS-operated Solsort field.
The facilities will operate alongside the Greensand project, which passed its first milestone in November when DNV GL agreed that the underground gas reservoir could safely contain compressed CO2.
More recently, 29 consortium members agreed to back Greensand’s carbon storage pilot project, in support of Denmark’s ambitious 70% CO2 reduction targets by 2030.
“We are taking this step by step,” said Mads Weng Gade, Head of Country, Denmark and Commercial Director INEOS Energy.
“We now have the consortium in place, and if we are successful in receiving ongoing support from the Danish Government and advisory board, Greensand will be able to take another important step forward in supporting the Danish Climate Strategy.”
The potential to store up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 per annum will contribute significantly to Denmark’s 2030 overall emissions reduction target.
Ex-BP chief joins INEOS
INEOS is no stranger to Brian Gilvary. At BP, he was often involved in striking deals with INEOS.
Only last year, he led the negotiation with INEOS for the sale of BP’s global aromatics and acetyls business for $5 billion – and had enormous respect for INEOS’ approach to securing a deal that worked for both companies.
“INEOS is commercially very savvy and I have seen the rigour that goes into a deal,” he said. “But it also listens and understands the point of view of the other side. That said, I much prefer being on the same side of the negotiating table.”
What’s also impressed Brian since he became Executive Chairman of INEOS Energy is INEOS’ obsessive focus on safety and its humility.
“INEOS is understated in many ways,” he said. “The house style is one of delivery and then talking about successes and learning from things that have not gone so well.”
Brian spent 34 years at BP and helped to steer the company through some of its toughest times, including the 2010 explosion of a BP drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico which led to the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Carbon Capture Project
Phase one of the Greensand project is already complete. The project may be capable of storing up to eight million tonnes of CO2 every year in the INEOS-operated Siri and Nini areas, after those fields have ceased production.
- Carbon capture technology can capture up to 90% of CO2 from high intensity emitters.
- CO2 will be captured onshore and then transported to the offshore platform by ship.
- CO2 will be injected in liquid form into the geological reservoirs more than 1500 metres below the sea bed. The CO2 will naturally fill the empty oil and gas reservoir and will be permanently stored below the sea bed of the North Sea.
- By 2030, the aim is to build the capacity to store 3.5-4 million tonnes of CO2 yearly.