Norway plots offshore areas for CO2 storage

STAVANGER, Norway, May 20 (UPI) -- The Norwegian energy regulator said Tuesday it drew from more than 40 years of experience to show the offshore areas can store 1,000 years worth of emissions. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate published atlases for the Norwegian and Barents Sea, along with the Norwegian waters of the North Sea, that show it's possible to store more than 80 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the country's continental shelf.

NPD said the volume is the equivalent of 1,000 years worth of Norwegian CO2 emissions.

NPD Project Manager Eva Halland said the data represents more than 40 years of experience in the petroleum sector.

"We have had a vast amount of data at our disposal," she said in a statement.

NPD said CO2 that's separated from offshore field development is currently stored in water-filled geological formations. The regulator said more work like this may be necessary for future fields.

The Norwegian government estimates overall greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 totaled 52.8 million tons, an increase of 0.2 percent from the previous year. The oil and gas sector accounted for more than a quarter of all emissions, more than any other economic sector.