By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 8 -- Statoil ASA is laying a 151-km, 8-in. carbon dioxide injection pipeline from the Melkøya gas terminal in northern Norway to Snøhvit natural gas field in the Barents Sea.
The CO2, separated from Snøhvit gas at the terminal, will be injected back to a storage structure beneath the gas-bearing layers on the Statoil-operated field.
The pipelay is being accomplished in five stages. The Skandi Navica pipelay vessel began work on the line in early June, laying 10-20 km/day of pipe, and work is slated for completion by the end of July.
Statoil has been separating CO2 from its Sleipner West natural gas production and storing it in a subsurface formation in the North Sea since 1996. The injection and storage, Statoil said, will reduce total carbon emissions from the two fields by at least 1.7 million tonnes/year, including 700,000 tonnes/year from Snøhvit.
Statoil said the pipeline to Snøhvit marks the first offshore injection of CO2 from a land-based plant.
