Equinor missed the mark when the company reported its own CO₂ management to the Norwegian Environment Agency earlier this year. The amount of CO₂ that has been injected and stored under the seabed in the last two years has been mistakenly significantly exaggerated: Equinor claimed in its own annual report to have stored around 660,000 tonnes of CO₂ in 2020. Now it turns out that the oil giant missed by 155,000 tonnes – an overreporting of 23 percent. The injection of around 307,000 tonnes in 2021 also turned out to be wrong, as Equinor reported 49,000 tonnes too much. This corresponds to a margin of error of 16 percent. The Norwegian Environment Agency writes in an e-mail to news that there are increasingly strict requirements for the CO₂ accounts, and that Equinor will also have to follow up. The misreporting does not imply that more CO₂ has been emitted than previously thought, but the Norwegian Environment Agency is nevertheless critical. – This type of deviation is unfortunate and can affect the attitude towards the injection of CO₂ as a climate measure, writes communications advisor Fride Elise Herfjord in an e-mail to news. World famous Equinor became world famous when the oil and gas giant already in 1996 began injecting CO₂ from gas production on the Sleipner field into the seabed. Media such as the BBC, National Geographic and Time Magazine hailed the technology from Sleipner as an example to follow. Over the past 26 years, more than 19 million tonnes of CO₂ have been pumped underground, nearly 250 kilometers south-west of Stavanger in the Utsira Formation. CO₂ from the gas is removed at Sleipner T and sent down to a depth of 800-1,000 meters in the Utsira formation, where it is stored. Illustration: Equinor For a period, however, Equinor suspected that the figures for 2020 and 2021 had been inflated. The measuring equipment was replaced in March 2021, and with the new tool the volumes turned out to be 38 percent lower than before. Equinor confirms to news that the measuring equipment that caused the incorrect measurement has been replaced. Other equipment of the same type has been checked and found to be in order, according to press spokesperson Gisle Ledel Johannessen. – Do you suspect that the error reporting has occurred over several years than in 2020 and 2021? – Based on an assessment of available data from other relevant systems, we have no indication of measurement errors before 2020, and of course not after the equipment that failed was replaced, Johannessen replies. Ragnhild Elisabeth Waagaard, head of climate and energy at the environmental organization WWF, says it is good that Equinor has followed up by installing improved measuring equipment and correcting the reporting. – The most important thing is to avoid emissions in the first place, and we therefore believe that Equinor must avoid opening new projects that contribute to large, new emissions. Like Wisting in the Barents Sea, Rosebank in Shetland and Bay du Nord in Canada. Pioneers – and good shop When Equinor developed Sleipner Vest, the company faced a problem: The gas from the field contained up to nine percent CO₂, which was too much to sell. The company could choose to release the gas into the atmosphere and pay the cost associated with an ever-increasing CO₂ price. Or Equinor could capture the gas and send it back under the seabed. Photo: Grafikk / news The company chose the latter, and according to Teknisk Ukeblad, has saved over seven billion kroner on the decision. In addition, researchers, politicians and the media from home and abroad have flocked to experience ground-breaking CO₂ handling up close. In recent years, gas from Gudrun (2014), Gina Krog (2017) and Utgard (2019) has also been processed on the Sleipner T platform.
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Equinor overreported CO₂ storage at Sleipner – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
