– This is the largest climate project in Norwegian industry ever, said the then Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru (H) when “Longship” was presented last fall.
The project involves carbon capture and storage at Norcem’s cement factory in Porsgrunn, and possibly the same at Fortum’s waste incineration plant at Klemetrud in Oslo – depending on financing.
Now the bill for Norcem’s project seems to be increasing significantly.
In the government’s proposal for changes in the state budget for 2022, we can read the following:
On 25 October 2021, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy received updated cost estimates for the CO₂ capture project from Norcem. The updated cost estimates show that Norcem is now expected to exceed the maximum budget in the grant agreement between the state and Norcem.
The new estimate for expected investment costs (P50) has been increased by NOK 912 million to NOK 4146 million.