Project Details http://www.co2captureandstorage.info/project_specific.php?project_id=26 

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Sleipner Project 

Project Type 

Project Category 

Project Status 

Project Overview 

CO2 Geological Storage Demonstration Project, 

CO2 Capture Commercial Project 

Storage in AquifersSolvent Absorption 

Operational Large Scale Project 

The storage in underground geological formations 

is an attractive option for the removal, essentially 

permanently, of very large quantities of CO2 

generated from a variety of industrial operations. 

One promising technological option is that of 

capturing CO2 and injecting it into deep 

underground saline aquifers, found in many parts 

of the world. One such formation is located above 

the Sleipner field, one of the larger natural gas 

producers in the North Sea. 

Partners/Participants Field operator: 

Funding Source(s) 

Overall Project Costs 

Project Timescale 

Expected Key 

Deliverables 

Project Links 

Related Projects 

Project Summary 

Statoil 

Field Licensees: 

Esso Norge 

Norsk Hydro 

TotalFinaElf Exploration Norge 

Statoil 

Cost of CO2 treatment module = >350 M Euro 

Operations started August 1996 

Commercial natural gas production coupled 

with the sequestration of ~1 Mt CO2/year 

in a deep saline aquifer. 

Minimised Norwegian CO2 taxes payable by 

field licensees 

An interactive description of the project is given 

by Statoil at: http://www.statoil.com/statoilcom 

/svg00990.nsf/web/sleipneren?opendocument 

A descriptive article is presented by Statoil 

The Sleipner project is hosting the SACS Project, 

aimed at providing methodologies for the 

assessment, planning and monitoring of 

underground CO2 storage at the Sleipner Field, as 

well as other hydrocarbon fields, both onshore and 

offshore. 

The storage in underground geological formations 

is an attractive option for the removal, essentially 

permanently, of very large quantities of CO2 

generated from a variety of industrial operations. 

One promising technological option is that of 

capturing CO2 and injecting it into deep 

underground saline aquifers, found in many parts 

of the world. One such formation is located above 

the Sleipner field, one of the larger natural gas 

producers in the North Sea. The natural gas 

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Project Details http://www.co2captureandstorage.info/project_specific.php?project_id=26 

produced from the field contains up to 9% CO2, 

however, in order to meet the required export 

specifications and the customers’ requirements, 

this has to be reduced to a maximum of 2.5%. At 

the present production rate, this equates to an 

extraction of nearly 1 million tonne CO2/year. 

Using normal operational practices, this CO2 would 

have been released into the atmosphere, the 

result being an increase in Norway’s CO2 

emissions of nearly 3%. In an era where efforts 

have been focused increasingly on minimising CO2 

emissions, this clearly gave cause for concern. 

Thus, in order to help the country to meet national 

emission targets and avoid high CO2 taxes, 

Statoil, a major Norwegian oil and gas producer, 

adopted a saline aquifer storage strategy for the 

Sleipner West field. Natural gas production from 

the field started in 1996, with CO2 produced being 

injected into the Utsira aquifer formation (see 

below), some 800 metres below the bed of the 

North Sea. This process remains on-going, the 

project forming the world’s first commercial-scale 

storage of CO2 for mitigation of climate change. 

Had this process not been adopted, and the CO2 

produced been allowed to escape to the 

atmosphere, the licensees of the Sleipner West 

field would have had to pay NOK 1 million/day in 

Norwegian CO2 taxes. 

Background Statoil operates the Sleipner field on 

behalf of a group of industrial partners, producing 

natural gas for a range of customers. However, 

before this gas can be sold on, it requires 

additional treatment in order to reduce its 

relatively high CO2 level of ~9%, to ~2.5%. This 

is achieved by stripping the CO2 from the gas 

stream using large absorption towers, each around 

20 metres high. The CO2 removed by this process 

is then injected into a saline water-bearing 

structure known as the Utsira formation, which 

comprises sands well below seabed. Commercial 

production, based on this technology, from the 

Sleipner West gas and condensate field began in 

August 1996. Operating in this way, CO2 

emissions to the atmosphere are negligible. 

The Sleipner project marked a milestone in 

industrial history, as this technology had not 

previously been adopted for such a large-scale 

operation, accommodating ~1 mt CO2/year. In 

addition, this was the first occasion where carbon 

dioxide had been compressed and injected 

underground from an offshore platform. 

The Sleipner CO2 Facility The Sleipner West 

facility comprises two main installations, the 

Sleipner B (SLB) wellhead platform on the field 

and the Sleipner T (SLT) treatment platform, 

adjacent to the Sleipner East facilities. SLT is 

linked physically to the Sleipner A platform by a 

bridge. Other major component parts of the 

development include a 12.5 kilometre flow line 

from SLB to SLT. The wellhead platform is 

remotely operated from the Sleipner A (SLA) 

control room via an umbilical line. 

The carbon dioxide removal process used to 

remove CO2 from the high pressure natural gas 

stream is based on amine scrubbing technology. 

The natural gas flows into the bottom and out 

through the top of two contacting towers. The 

amine solutions (MDEA and water) treating the 

natural gas is flowing countercurrent and when the 

solution exits from the bottom of the towers it will 

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Project Details http://www.co2captureandstorage.info/project_specific.php?project_id=26 

have absorbed the major bulk of the carbon 

dioxide. Subsequent stages then remove the 

collected CO2, mainly by flash regeneration. The 

separation of the CO2 from the amine solution is 

carried out using equipment installed in one of the 

SLT modules, these comprising of heat 

exchangers, pressure vessels, storage tanks, 

pumps, Pelton turbines and filters. The amine is 

then recirculated to the two towers for further 

removal of CO2 from the natural gas. 

Energy released by the amine treatment process 

runs two generators, yielding 6 MW of power, 

utilised on the platform itself. The carbon dioxide 

module weighs ~8200 tonnes and stands 35 

metres high; overall costs amounted to over 350 

M Euro. 

The other SLT module is used for gas treatment. 

Following removal of the CO2, the natural gas is 

transferred to SLA for export to continental Europe 

the CO2 is also transferred to SLA, for injection 

into the Utsira aquifer. A percentage of the natural 

gas produced is also reinjected into the Sleipner 

East reservoir in order to improve overall 

condensate production. 

Licensees for the Sleipner West field are Statoil 

(operator) with 49.50% (this includes 32.37% as 

the government's direct financial interest), Esso 

Norge with 32.24%, Norsk Hydro with 8.85%, 

TotalFinaElf Exploration Norge with 9.41%. 

The Utsira Formation The Utsira Formation is a 

200-250m thick massive sandstone formation 

located at a depth of 800-1000m beneath the 

seabed. This was selected as the reservoir for the 

storage of CO2 produced from the Sleipner West 

Field. 

The carbon dioxide extracted from natural gas 

production on Sleipner West is injected and stored 

into the Utsira formation 1,000 metres beneath 

the seabed, rather than released to the air. This is 

done by a four stage CO2 injection compression 

system. One million tonnes of carbon dioxide are 

stored in the sub-surface annually. It is estimated 

that the Utsira Formation is capable of storing up 

to 600 billion tonnes of CO2. 

The CO2 separated is injected into a small 

"structural closure" northeast of the SLA platform. 

The CO2 (not dissolved in formation water) is 

captured within this closure. When the closure has 

been filled, the CO2 is expected to spill towards 

the north, and thereafter to the northwest. The 

CO2 gas is not expected to reach the SLA platform 

location so avoiding corrosion-related problems 

occurring as a result of the injected CO2. 

3D seismic data covering the Sleipner East area 

has been used to map the Utsira Formation. The 

seismic response represents the changes in 

"impedance" in the water-filled reservoir. The 

impedance is affected by the CO2 injected into the 

reservoir. This change in seismic impedance is 

apparent on new seismic data produced. The 

presence of CO2 and the movement of the CO2 

gas in the Utsira Formation reservoir can therefore 

be monitored by examination of later seismic data. 

Date Last Updated 

1/18/2010 2:25 PM 

Contact Person 1 

Name Mr Tore A Torp 

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Project Details http://www.co2captureandstorage.info/project_specific.php?project_id=26 

Organisation	 Statoil – Den nosrke stats oljeslskap 

Address	 Research Centre
 

N-7005
 

Trondheim
 

Norway
 

Telephone	 +47 7358 4181
 

Fax	 +47 7358 4630
 

E-Mail	 tat@statoil.com 

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