CCS summit with South Africa’s President
On 1 September SINTEF participated in a summit meeting on CCS technologies attended by both King Harald of Norway and the South African President, Jacob Zuma.
President Jacob Zuma, the Norwegian King Harald, the Norwegian Minister of Oil and Gas, Ola Borten Moe and number of industry players met to discuss cooperation and the future for carbon capture and storage (CCS). (Photo: Nina Eirin Rangøy)
The meeting was an important event as part of the South African President’s state visit to Norway. As well as President Zuma and our own King Harald, the Energy Ministers from both countries were present, together with several other ministers and key industry leaders.
SINTEF President and CEO Unni Steinsmo was one of the few introductory speakers. In her presentation she delivered a factual review of the status of CO2 capture, transport and storage technologies. She also issued an invitation to future technical collaboration between South Africa and Norway.
SINTEF was also represented by Vice President of Climate Technologies Nils A. Røkke and Research Director Mona J. Mølnvik, who is heading the research centre BIGCCS.
At the close of the meeting President Zuma expressed his pleasure at receiving so much relevant information in such a short time.
South Africa is one of the main countries with which Norway is currently working in the field of CCS technologies. Among other things, this means that South African energy company SASOL is one of the partners in the Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM).
SINTEF and NTNU are involved in research collaboration projects with South African partners in this field, and these activities will probably be extended. From SINTEF’s point of view it is natural to link future collaborative efforts to the BIGCCS centre, which is one of Norway’s designated research centres for environmentally-friendly energy. In connection with the meeting, SINTEF was also invited to take part in South African CCS Week later this autumn.
