Denmark Opens EU’s First Full-Scale CO2 Storage Site

Denmark has officially opened the Greensand carbon storage project, marking the start of commercial operations at what project developer INEOS says is the European Union’s first full-scale facility for permanently storing carbon dioxide.

King Frederik X of Denmark opened the facility on September 18 at the Port of Esbjerg. Greensand is led by INEOS Energy in partnership with Harbour Energy and Denmark’s state-owned North Sea Fund, or Nordsøfonden.

The project can initially store up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, with plans to expand capacity to between 4 million and 8 million tonnes per year as demand for carbon storage grows.

For the first phase, much of the CO2 will come from Danish biomethane plants. Captured carbon dioxide will be liquefied and transported by truck to a dedicated terminal in Esbjerg before being shipped offshore aboard the Carbon Destroyer 1, a purpose-built CO2 carrier.

The CO2 will then be injected into the depleted Nini West oil reservoir, roughly 250 kilometers off Denmark’s coast and around 1,800 meters below the seabed.

The start of commercial operations is significant for Europe’s broader carbon capture and storage ambitions. The EU is targeting annual CO2 injection capacity of at least 50 million tonnes by 2030, rising to roughly 250 million to 280 million tonnes by 2040. Greensand’s planned expansion would account for only part of that requirement but provides operating infrastructure that industrial emitters could eventually use as capture capacity expands.

Carbon capture and storage is increasingly being positioned as a decarbonization option for industries such as cement, steel and chemicals, where eliminating process emissions can be difficult through electrification or renewable power alone. Denmark and other North Sea countries are also seeking to use depleted offshore oil and gas reservoirs to develop a regional market for permanent CO2 storage.

INEOS Chairman Jim Ratcliffe said the project demonstrates that carbon storage can move beyond pilot projects and provide industry with a route to lower emissions without shifting production outside Europe.

European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen described the opening as a transition from CCS demonstration projects toward large-scale deployment, with carbon storage potentially helping European manufacturers cut emissions while retaining production and investment.

Greensand’s storage reservoir has undergone testing by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, while independent verifier DNV has provided safety approval, according to the project developers.

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