The Noble Resolve, a jack-up rig owned by Noble Corporation, has departed the Danish port of Esbjerg and is headed for the Nini West Field in the Danish North Sea. Even though the rig is typically employed in offshore oil and gas drilling, this particular job will be different.
Namely, in the weeks to come, the Noble Resolve jack-up will serve as a platform for the Project Greensand pilot in which the first-ever subsea carbon storage in the Danish North Sea will be performed. The rig has been specifically customized for the pilot in collaboration with Semco Maritime.
The Greensand project seeks to establish the capacity to safely store 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year, beginning in 2025 and increasing to up to 8 million tons per year by 2030.
Rune Loftager, Noble Drilling's Head of Technology and Decarbonization said: "We're excited to confirm that the Noble Resolve is ready to perform its key role in the work to complete the first-ever carbon storage beneath the Danish North Sea. We're proud that our rig and the competencies and experience of our crew will contribute to this important project.
OEDigital previously reported that a platform supply vessel, normally used to deliver goods to offshore oil and gas platforms, was undergoing preparations in the port of Esbjerg to carry CO2 containers for storage in below the Danish North Sea seabed.
Blue Water, which owns offshore vessels, and Semco Maritime, which provides services to the offshore energy industry, are rebuilding and upgrading the vessel Aurora Storm so that it can be used in the Danish carbon capture and storage project Greensand.
The Aurora Storm will be used to ship containers with CO2 from Belgium to the Danish North Sea, where the CO2 will be delivered to the Nini West platform and then stored under the seabed.
Blue Water and Semco said they'd install a grilling system on the vessel, with the frame structure ensuring that the containers stay in their position on the vessel when the OSV sails from Antwerp to the North Sea.
Apart from the grilling system, the Aurora Storm's electrical systems will undergo upgrades.
The companies are also adding pipes and pumps to the ship.
This will allow CO2 to be sent directly from containers on the Nini West platform through the jack-up rig Noble Resolve (formerly Maersk Resolve) and into the sandstone reservoir 1,800 meters below the seafloor of the North Sea, where it will be stored safely and permanently.