INEOS opens Greensand CO₂ storage site, the first full-scale one in the EU

INEOS Energy, with Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden, has opened the Greensand project, the first full-scale CO₂ storage site in the EU. INEOS will source CO₂ primarily from Danish biomethane plants, which is liquefied, trucked to a dedicated terminal at Port Esbjerg, shipped on Carbon Destroyer 1, and injected into the depleted Nini West oil field about 250 kilometres offshore at roughly 1,800 metres below the seabed. The first commercial phase can store up to 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year, with potential to scale to 4-8 million tonnes annually.

Key facts

Market context

Carbon dioxide captured from industrial flue gases and biogenic sources is a commodity with few established outlets beyond food and beverage carbonation, urea production and enhanced oil recovery. Permanent geological storage is the main route for cutting emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, refining, chemicals and waste-to-energy, where capture equipment can be installed but the CO₂ still needs a final destination. Demand for storage capacity is therefore tied to the growth of carbon capture and storage projects, which in turn depends on carbon pricing, emissions regulation and subsidies. For chemical buyers, the practical effects are in logistics and cost: liquefaction, shipping and injection add expense that is recovered through storage fees or carbon credits, and the availability of nearby storage can determine whether an emitter captures at all. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs are attractive because their geology is already characterised and their infrastructure can often be reused. Operating cross-border chains of this kind helps establish commercial precedent for pricing, transport and liability.

Source: official release on ineos.com. Summary and context written by Market Krystal.