News
Publish date: February 6, 2014
News
On February 4 the Parliament’s ‘Control and Constitution Committee’ completed the third and final day of the hearing on the investment in CO2 capture and storage (CCS) at Mongstad. Adding a third day to the original two that were scheduled renders this hearing the longest in Norwegian history.
“The hindsight of former Environment Minister Solheim is no better than the decisions he took as a politician,” said Bellona President Frederic Hauge during the hearing.
When Aker Solutions’ president and former director stated that the technology they had developed at Mongstad was sustainable, robust and safe, the former environment ministers Solheim, Bjørnøy and Solhjell looked like the oil industry’s strongest supporters as they were of the opinion that the technology was too expensive and complicated.
Liv Monica Stubholt, former director of Aker Solutions, stated that “the technological development was not the problem. But we ran out of political will.”
Aker Solutions Director, Valborg Lundegaard , emphasized in his presentation that the then government overreacted on the alleged cancer risk of the amine technology. This cancer risk led the government to in 2011 defer the final investment decision by five years. Lundegaard said that for her it was “difficult to understand that it was necessary to have such a long delay.” She also stated that Aker Solutions is able to deliver a full scale plant. Stubholt focused on the non–dialogue of the government with industry and research institutions throughout the process , but particularly in terms of the cooperation agreement with Statoil and the postponement decision.
The former environment ministers were inclined to admit that the cooperation agreement with Statoil was not ideal, but pointed mainly to uncertainty and complexity of the technology as the background for shelving Mongstad.
Solhjell would did not wish to discuss the timing of the shelving decision. He was also of the opinion that it is not necessary that Norway develops CCS technology for gas. The Norwegian government has previously emphasized the importance it will have that Norway develops precisely this technology, and it has also been expected of the EU (read more, in Norwegian, here).
Solhjell also claimed that the chance of success would be greater is the attention was shifted elsewhere. The Norwegian liberal party, a partner of the conservative coalition government, has recently stated that they see Norwegian investment in overseas CCS projects as the possible best way forward.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.