CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) is already preventing millions of tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. Detail of the four largest industrial scale CCS projects in operation can be found below. These projects are capturing and storing millions of tonnes of CO₂ every year. They all have a direct relevance to the application of CCS in the wider world.

Sleipner, Norway

Project type: Natural gas field, offshore

Established: 1996

Approximately One million tonnes stored annually

Overview: 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 one million tonnes of CO₂ are stored every year in a saline formation located one kilometre below the seabed. Sleipner is operated by Statoil.

Weyburn-Midale, Canada

Project type: Oil fields, onshore

Established: 2000

Approximately Two million tonnes stored annually

Overview: Established in 2000, a 330 kilometre pipeline connects a coal gasification plant in North Dakota, US, to an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project at the Weyburn oilfield in Saskatchewan, Canada. Since 2000, approximately two million tonnes of CO₂ a year have been injected. The injected CO₂ has been monitored by a research project managed by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre that is being conducted in two phases.

In Salah, Algeria

Project type: Natural gas field, onshore

Established: 2004

Approximately One million tones stored annually

Project overview: 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 three million tonnes of CO₂ have already been geologically stored at Krechba in a deep saline formation two kilometres below the earth’s surface. The storage formation at In Salah mirrors those commonly found in the USA, northwest Europe and China, regions with high CO₂ emissions.

Snøhvit, Norway

Project type: Natural gas field, offshore

Established: 2008

Approximately 700,000 tonnes stored annually

Overview: The project sees 700,000 tonnes 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 2600 metres below the seabed.