AI-Optimized Deep Sea Carbon Storage System OceanCarbon Deployed in North Sea: Permanent CO2 Sequestration in Basalt

Norways Equinor today announced that its AI-optimized deep sea carbon storage system OceanCarbon has officially entered operation near the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea. OceanCarbon uses a fundamentally different approach from traditional carbon storage: instead of storing CO2 in saline aquifers with leakage risk, it injects CO2 into sub-seabed basalt formations where mineralization reactions with calcium and magnesium ions convert CO2 into solid carbonate minerals within 2 years.

Technical Route

The OceanCarbon storage process has three steps. First, CO2 captured from nearby industrial facilities is compressed to liquid state and transported via subsea pipeline. Second, the AI control system optimizes injection parameters based on real-time geological monitoring data. Third, CO2 injected into the basalt layer undergoes mineralization reactions under high temperature and pressure, gradually converting to calcite and magnesite.

Equinors CCS technology director Anne Strand said mineralization storage eliminates the long-term leakage risk of saline aquifer storage, since CO2 converted to solid minerals is chemically fixed permanently.

The Role of AI

The AI control system, developed with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, can infer the entire 3D geological structure of the storage area from limited drilling data and predict CO2 flow paths and mineralization rates. During 6 months of trial operation, the AI reduced mineralization time from the traditional 5-10 years to 18 months per ton of CO2.

Capacity and Cost

Phase 1 has annual storage capacity of 1.5 million tons of CO2, equivalent to approximately 300,000 cars annual emissions. Storage cost is approximately 65 euros per ton, below the current EU carbon trading price of approximately 88 euros per ton, making OceanCarbon commercially viable. Equinor plans to expand to 10 million tons annually by 2032.