Norwegian blue ammonia project secures carbon storage licence in Barents Sea
Norwegian carbontech start-up Horisont Energi has been awarded a license in the Barents Sea together with its partners Vår Energi and Equinor to utilise the Polaris reservoir off the coast of Finnmark in Northern Norway to permanently store CO₂ from the Barents Blue ammonia factory.
The Barents Blue project is developing an ammonia production facility at Markoppneset in Hammerfest that will reform natural gas from the Barents Sea into blue ammonia using carbon capture and storage. The first stage of the development includes the capture, transport and storage of 2m tonnes of CO2 each year.
In 2021, Equinor and Vår Energi signed cooperation agreements with Horisont Energi to develop Barents Blue and Polaris. In early 2022, Horisont Energi and the European energy company E.ON entered into a strategic cooperation agreement to, among other things, develop European end-to-end carbon capture, transport and storage service offering. At the same time, E.ON made a strategic investment in Horisont Energi.
As the operator of the ammonia facility, Horisont Energi has had several technical studies performed related to the design of the factory, including two large concept studies by Saipem and Technip Engines, in cooperation with the Danish technology company Haldor Topsoe. In addition, Multiconsult has completed a study for the necessary infrastructure and preparation of the site. A study of the gas pipeline for the transport of purchased natural gas to Markoppneset and the transport of CO2 to the Polaris reservoir has been provided by Subsea 7.
Horisont Energi also has a memorandum of understanding in place with the Port of Rotterdam to set up a corridor for the transport of blue ammonia from Norway to Rotterdam by 2025.
