Project

Porthos is developing a project in which CO₂ from industry in the Port of Rotterdam is transported and stored in empty gas fields beneath the North Sea.

The CO₂ that will be transported and stored by Porthos, will be captured by various companies. The companies will supply their CO₂ to a collective pipeline that runs through the Rotterdam port area. The CO₂ will then be pressurised in a compressor station.

The CO₂ will be transported through an offshore pipeline to a platform in the North Sea, approximately 20 km off the coast. From this platform, the CO₂ will be pumped in an empty gas field. The empty gas fields are situated in a sealed reservoir of porous sandstone, more than 3 km beneath the North Sea.

Porthos will store around 37 Mton CO₂, approximately 2.5 Mton CO₂ per year for 15 years.

Porthos has been recognised by the European Union as a Project of Common Interest. For more information, please visit this webpage of the European Commission.

Activities

Porthos is currently mainly focussing on the permit procedures and technical details. These issues must be concluded so that a final investment decision (FID) can be taken in 2023.

As soon as the investment decision has been taken, the construction of the infrastructure will start. It is expected that the system will be operational by 2026.

Timeline

April 2018

Completion of feasibility study

Spring 2018-early 2019

Concept select phase

Early 2019

Start FEED-phase: technical development of the transport and storage infrastructure

February-March 2019

Expression of Interest by companies

June 2019

Adoption of Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail

July 2019

Wim van Lieshout new project director

More information

July 2019

Final award of € 6.5 million CEF subsidy by European Commission for preparatory studies

Autumn 2019

Signing of Joint Development Agreement 1

More information

September 2020

Completion of Environmental Impact Assessment

Autumn 2020

Signing of Joint Development Agreement 2

More information

February 2021

Final award of € 102 million CEF subsidy by European Commission for construction works

More information

Autumn 2021

Signing of transport and storage contracts

September 2022

CO₂ storage permits irrevocable

More information

2023

Final Investment Decision

2023/2024

Start construction of the system

2026

System operational

Technical components

Onshore transport

The collective pipeline running through the Rotterdam port area is approximately 30 km long and extends from the eastern end of Oude Maas in the Botlek area, through the Europoort area to the compressor station at Maasvlakte.

The collected CO₂ will flow in a gaseous state at a pressure of 35 bar through the pipeline, which has a diameter of approximately 108 cm (42 inches).

The new pipeline will be housed in the existing pipeline corridor and will be entrenched section by section. The pipeline corridor ranges in width between 10 and 45 m.

Compressor station

The compressor site at Maasvlakte has a surface area of roughly 2 ha and includes several buildings on the grounds.

The entire site is supplied with power from the electrical substation. The pumping station houses the cooling water pumps that are used to cool the compressors.

At the compressor building, three compressors jointly bring the CO₂ to a maximum pressure of 130 bar for subsequent transmission to the offshore platform.

Offshore transport

From the compressor station, a 22 km pipeline with a diameter of approximately 40 cm (16 inches) transports the CO₂ to the P18-A platform out on the North Sea. The maximum pressure in this pipeline is 130 bar, and the CO₂ is in a gaseous state with the characteristics of a liquid.

The former gas platform P18-A will be re-used for the storage of CO₂. The platform will be fitted with the facilities required to transport the collected CO₂ to the injection wells. In addition, various technical systems will be installed for monitoring and remote control of the system.

Storage

The collected CO₂ is stored in the pores of the sandstone substratum, which used to contain natural gas. For millions of years, this gas was hermetically trapped under high pressure between a nonpermeable layer of caprock and sealing plane faults. The local pressure in this field, which gradually decreased during gas extraction, will once again rise as a result of CO₂ injection. The reservoir will be consistently monitored and checked to ensure that local pressure never exceeds the values recorded when gas extraction first started.

The CO₂ from the pipeline will be injected into the depleted gas field under P18-A via a well. This well is a metal casing that is anchored to the rock all the way down to the reservoir in the substratum. To make the existing facility suited for CO₂ injection, the well will be fitted with a new inner tube. The wells will also have monitoring equipment that is used to check the local pressure and temperature during CO₂ injection. Once CO₂ injection has been completed – when the reservoir is full and at the correct ultimate pressure – the wells will be sealed with plugs.

Downloads

Porthos standard CO2 Transport and Storage Conditions (March 2022)

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CO2 specifications (September 2021)

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