Key large scale CO₂ Capture and Storage projects

Already, large scale CCS projects such as at Weyburn-Midale (Canada/US), In Salah (Algeria), Sleipner (Norway) and Snøhvit (Norway) are preventing millions of tons of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. But CCS is capable of much more. The 2009 IEA Roadmap, assessing strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 50% by 2050, concludes that CCS will need to contribute one-fifth of the necessary emissions reductions to stabilize GHG concentrations in the most cost-effective manner.

The four existing industrial-scale projects all have a direct relevance to the potential widespread application of CCS.

Sleipner Norway Natural Gas field offshore Established 1996	Sleipner began storing CO₂ in 1996, making it the world's first industrial-scale CCS project. Sleipner is a natural gas field in the North Sea; CO₂ has to be separated from the gas before it can be sold. Around 1 million tonnes of CO₂ are stored every year in a saline formation located 1 kilometer below the seabed. Sleipner is operated by Statoil.
Weyburn-Midale Canada/USA Established 2000	A 330 kilometer pipeline connects a coal gasification plant in North Dakota, USA, to depleted oil fields in Weyburn, Canada. Since 2000, approximately 2.7 million tonnes of CO₂ a year have been stored in these oil fields. Two Weyburn projects exist: a commercial CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project at the Weyburn oil field and the research project managed by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre that is being conducted in two phases.
In Salah Algeria Natural Gas field onshore Established 2004	In Salah is a pioneering, industrial-scale CCS project that has been operating in Algeria since 2004. The project is operated by a consortium of BP, Sonatrach and Statoil. More than 3 million tonnes of CO₂ have already been geologically stored at Krechba in a deep saline formation 2 kilometers below the Earth's surface. The storage formation at Krechba mirrors those commonly found in the USA, northwest Europe and China.
Snøhvit Norway Natural Gas field offshore Established 2008	The project sees 700,000 tonnes a year being stored in a depleted natural gas reservoir deep below the seabed every year. Statoil operates the CCS project at the Snøhvit Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, where CO₂ is separated from natural gas before the gas is liquefied. The CO₂ is injected into a sandstone formation called Tubåsen, located 2,600 meters below the seabed.