King Frederik X of Denmark has opened the first full-scale CO2 storage site in the EU, led by INEOS Energy, with partners Harbour Energy and the Danish North Sea Fund (Nordsøfonden).
Project Greensand was in December 2022 granted an exploration permit for the injection and storage of up to 15,000 tons of CO2 in Nini West over a four-month period. This was followed by a world first on March 8, 2023, with the first-ever injection of CO2 in the North Sea.
INEOS, the day-to-day operator, and its partners reached the final investment decision (FID) in December 2024 to invest in the Greensand Future Project, the first commercial phase of the Greensand project. Then, in December 2025, the Danish Energy Agency issued its first-ever approval for a full-scale CO2 storage facility, clearing the Greensand Future project to store CO2.
His Majesty King Frederik X of Denmark today, September 18, officially opened the first full-scale facility for the permanent storage of CO2 in the EU, with the ceremony at the Port of Esbjerg, marking Greensand’s move into commercial operation.
Mads Gade, CEO of INEOS Energy Europe, said: “Greensand starts with biogenic CO2, but its significance reaches far beyond that first step. We are ready to expand capacity to receive CO2 from industries across Europe. Greensand is open for business, and a new European market for permanent CO2 storage can now begin to take shape.”
Greensand expects to store up to 400,000 tons of CO2 annually in this first commercial phase, scaling toward a potential of up to 4-8 million tons annually at full capacity.
INEOS will source CO2 primarily from Danish biomethane plants. Once captured, CO2 is liquefied, delivered by truck to a dedicated CO2 terminal at Port Esbjerg, shipped aboard Carbon Destroyer 1 – the EU’s first purpose-built CO2 carrier – and injected into the Nini West reservoir, a depleted oil field some 250 kilometers offshore, approximately 1,800 meters beneath the seabed.
“Today marks an important milestone for Europe. With the launch, here in Esbjerg, of the first fully operational site for offshore carbon storage in the European Union, we prove that carbon storage is a practical reality,” said European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen.
“We show that we can move from demonstration to deployment. We set out a path for European industries: to continue their transition to a low-carbon future, while maintaining production, investments, and employment in our continent. And we open a new front in the existential fight against climate change.”
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