Norway and 5 firms to work on testing carbon capture

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway signed deals with five energy companies on Thursday to work to create a test centre for capture and storage of carbon dioxide at a power station on the west coast.

The Ministry of Oil and Energy said it signed deals with DONG Energy, Norsk Hydro, Shell, Statoil and Vattenfall over the planned test centre at Mongstad.

"The government's vision is to contribute to developing technology which will reduce cost and lead to a widespread use of carbon capture and storage technology," Oil and Energy Minister Odd Roger Enoksen said.

A ministry statement said that the "cooperation agreement will regulate the planning and preparation for a test centre...and will be running until the investment decision for the test centre will take place in the first quarter of 2008."

Norway, the world's number five oil exporter, says it wants to be a leader in developing carbon capture as part of an assault on global warming.

Statoil said the planned test centre would have the capacity to remove 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide from Statoil's Mongstad oil refinery and a new combined heat and power station that is under construction.

The power station will supply 280 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 350 MW of heat when it comes on stream in 2010.