Six companies including subsidiaries of Equinor ASA and TotalEnergies SE have submitted proposals in a new exploration licensing round for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration on the Norwegian side of the North Sea.

The applications were in response to the Norwegian Energy Ministry’s offering of three areas announced June 6. This year the ministry already awarded CO2 storage exploration licenses for four North Sea areas.

For the new offering, the ministry received applications from Aker BP ASA, Equinor Low Carbon Solutions AS, Harbour Energy Norge AS, Horisont Energi AS, Storegga Norge AS and TotalEnergies EP Norge AS, according to a ministry press release. The authorities expect to hold the country’s seventh awarding of CO2 storage exploration licenses before the year ends.

Licensing for CO2 storage is part of Norwegian regulations passed December 2014 to support CO2 storage as a means to mitigate climate change. An exploration permit grants “an exclusive right [to a company or a group of companies] to exploration with a view toward assessing the potential for exploitation of a subsea reservoir for storage of CO2”, per the official text of the regulations.

The Norwegian continental shelf holds a theoretical CO2 storage capacity of 80 billion metric tons, which represents about 1,600 years of Norwegian CO2 emissions at current levels, according to a statement on the government website April 30.

Earlier this year Equinor and two consortiums were offered four CO2 storage exploration licenses targeting the North Sea.

“We see great interest from the companies and find it gratifying that four offers are now being sent out”, Hilde Braut, assistant director for new industries at the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, said in a statement June 20. The awards were for an invitation made March 6.

Besides majority state-owned Equinor, which bagged two of the four licenses, the other winners were a group comprising Lime Petroleum AS, OMV (Norge) AS and Var Energi ASA and another consortium consisting of Aker BP ASA and PGNiG Upstream Norway AS.

“The awards are given to companies that have matured good, industrial plans”, Energy Minister Terje Aasland said of the results announced June.

“The licenses are offered with a binding work program which includes mileposts that ensure fast and efficient progress or return of the areas if the licenses do not carry out the storage project”, Aasland said at the time.

Norway has set a goal of cutting planet-warming emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, toward becoming a “low-emission society” by 2050, according to its Nationally Determined Contribution submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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