Announcement 2022, round 2

All you need to know about licences for subsea reservoirs on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for injection and storage of CO2 in 2022, round 2.

Awards: Four companies offered acreage

On March 31 2023, four companies have been offered exploration license for CO2 storage in two areas in the North Sea.

Six companies have applied for CO2 storage acreage

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) has received applications from six companies in connection with the announcement of an area in the North Sea for potential storage of CO2 on the Norwegian shelf.
According to the plan, acreage will be awarded before summer this year.

The MPE has been contacted by commercial players who are interested in securing the award of specific acreage for CO2 storage. This acreage, located in the North Sea, was announced on 2 November last year, pursuant to the CO2 Storage Regulations.

As of the application deadline on 3 January, applications were received from the following companies:

Aker BP ASA
Altera Infrastructure Group
Horisont Energi AS
Neptune Energy Norge AS
OMV (Norge) AS
Wintershall Dea Norway ASA

Press release from Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

Announcement 2: Acreage for CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf

On 2 November 2022, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced an area for CO2 storage pursuant to the regulations of 5 December 2014 No. 1517 relating to exploitation of subsea reservoirs on the continental shelf for storage of CO₂ and relating to transportation of CO₂ on the continental shelf.

The area encompasses defined blocks in the North Sea.

Application deadline

The application deadline is 3 January 2023 at 12:00. Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications well before the deadline.

Available acreage

The predefined areas encompass one area in the North Sea, see map and coordinates below.

Map of available acreage

The North Sea:

Table with coordinates

List of coordinates, the North Sea (zip file)

Relevant information

How to apply

Each company that applies for licences must submit the following to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) with copies to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA):

Application letter, company information and receipt for paid application fee
Application(s)

The submission to the MPE and NPD shall be sent via L2S Authority Communication or via Altinn.

1. Application letter, company information and receipt for paid application fee

The formal application letter with an overview of all applications the company is participating in, both individually and as a participant in group application(s), shall be submitted together with the company information. See Guideline to application letter and company information (pdf) for more information.

A fee of NOK 109,000 must be paid for each application. When several companies join in a group application to apply for a licence, this counts as one application.

One of the members of the group pays the fee. Payment shall be made to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, account no.: 7694.05.00326, marked "CO2-storage".

A copy of the receipt must be enclosed with the application letter from the company.

2. Application(s)

Each application for a licence must be submitted in electronic format to the MPE and the NPD. See Guideline for application for permit for CO2-storage (pdf) for more information.