INEOS, as the day-to-day operator of the ‘Greensand Future’ project, alongside its partners Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden, has announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) to permanently and safely store carbon dioxide (CO2) from Danish emitters in a depleted oil field in the Danish North Sea. This milestone marks a significant step towards mitigating climate change. The project will initiate storage operations at the INEOS-operated Nini field in the Danish North Sea by the end of 2025 or early 2026. Once operational, Greensand Future will become the EU’s first full-scale CO2 storage facility aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

The FID unlocks over $150 million in expected investments across the Greensand Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain, facilitating the scaling up of storage capacity. INEOS Chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, emphasized that this project represents a breakthrough in Carbon Capture and Storage technology, noting that Greensand Future will be the first operational CO2 storage facility in the EU, helping to meet both Danish and broader EU climate goals.

Greensand Future is built on a scalable industrial CCS platform, designed to expand storage capacity incrementally as CO2 emissions grow. This flexible model has broader implications for both onshore and offshore storage projects, playing a key role in accelerating global CCS deployment. Mads Gade, Head of Denmark at INEOS Energy, highlighted that the establishment of this full value chain sends a clear message to Danish and European emitters contemplating large-scale capture projects—carbon storage is feasible and achievable.

Initially, Greensand Future aims to capture and store 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. This capacity is expected to grow gradually, with the potential to store up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030. The European Commission has estimated that the EU will need to establish carbon storage capacity of 250 million tonnes per year by 2040 to meet the Paris Agreement’s objectives. CCS technology is also essential for Denmark’s 2045 net-zero target.

The CO2 captured in the first phase of Greensand Future will be liquefied at Danish biomethane production plants, then transported to Esbjerg port and shipped by Royal Wagenborg to the Nini field for permanent storage 1,800 meters beneath the North Sea seabed. Last year, Greensand conducted the world’s first cross-border offshore CO2 storage operation as part of the pilot phase. This phase was officially launched by His Majesty King Frederik of Denmark in March 2023.

Building on the pilot’s success, Mads Gade said that the project is now ready to transition to a fully operational commercial venture, learning from the pilot’s experiences. Independent verification by DNV has confirmed that the stored CO2 remains safely and permanently contained in the Nini West reservoir, demonstrating the project's reliability in achieving long-term carbon storage.