Petrofac has begun a multi-million-dollar front-end-engineering design (FEED) for the Netherlands’ flagship carbon transport and storage (CCS) system, Aramis. The development marks a significant step towards achieving the European Union’s decarbonisation targets announced in the European Green Deal and the Dutch Climate Agreement. 

Aramis, a joint development by TotalEnergies, Shell, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) and Gasunie, offers a route to decarbonisation for hard-to-abate industries across the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. It seeks to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial clusters, transporting it for permanent storage in depleted offshore gas fields under the North Sea. The captured CO2 will be carried via onshore pipeline or ship to a collection hub in the Port of Rotterdam. Following temporary storage and compression, the CO2 will be carried by pipeline, designed to transport up to 22 million tonnes of CO2 annually, to several offshore facilities. Here it will be injected, via wells, into depleted gas reservoirs some three to four kilometres under the seabed. 

Multi-faceted project

For its role in this multi-faceted project, Petrofac is taking overall responsibility for design of the 32” CO2 trunkline, including onshore, landfall and offshore sections, together with the offshore CO2 distribution hub platform. Petrofac will also design a CO2 pipeline linking the distribution hub to a nearby storage facility, as well as the overarching control and safety systems. 

Petrofac is collaborating with partners Peritus International and Offshore Independents in the Netherlands. Peritus International is executing the offshore trunkline design and Offshore Independents the landfall design and offshore installation analysis. Working as a fully integrated team, the project will be executed from Petrofac’s consulting hub in Woking, United Kingdom, where Peritus International is also based.

“We have a growing track record in supporting our clients in defining the infrastructure for developments across the CCS value chain – from the capture of emissions at source to the infrastructure required to transport and permanently store it. The Aramis project will be vital to the European Union reaching the goals outlined in the European Green Deal, and we are proud to be deploying our skills and experience in support.”

John Pearson, Chief Operating Officer, Energy Transition Projects, Petrofac