Wintershall Dea, Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer, is exploring the possibility of modifying existing natural gas pipelines found on the southern North Sea seabed into CO2 transportation systems. More than 4800-km of gas pipelines are lying on the floor of the southern North Sea, 1200 of which belong to Wintershall Noordzee, a 50:50 Joint Venture between Wintershall Dea AG und Gazprom EP International B.V.

Initial results paint a positive picture, suggesting that previously constructed offshore pipelines can securely and efficiently be used for the transport of liquid CO2.  Wintershall also has numerous sedimentary deposits in the North Sea which demonstrate potential for storing CO2, particularly companies with unavoidable process emissions coming from such branches as steel, cement or chemical industries.  Such companies could be well paired with CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) for the secure storage of these emissions.  Also the CO2 that comes with the production of blue hydrogen from natural gas can be securely stored in this fashion.   

Klaus Langemann, Senior Vice President for Carbon Management and Hydrogen at Wintershall, said the company is investing in CCS as it believes that this is a secure and cost effective technology for decarbonization.    

The Wintershall Dea study is being carried out with the assistance of the East Bavarian Technical High School in Regensburg.