A project for the construction of a maritime CO2 transshipment terminal to be built in Gdansk has received a grant from the European Commission for the preparation of project documentation for the investment and supply chain feasibility studies. The construction of the terminal is the first investment of its kind in Poland and one of the first in Central and Eastern Europe.

Partners in the project include the Polish multi-utility company Orlen, as well as Lafarge Cement S.A., the leader in the cement and aggregates market in our country (now part of the Swiss Holcim Group) and the Polish company of the French group Air Liquide, a supplier of industrial gases but also of technologies for capturing and storing CO2.

The €2.54 million grant was awarded under the Connecting Europe programme and will be used to prepare project documentation. The aim of the project is to finalise engineering and transport studies necessary for the construction of a multimodal carbon dioxide terminal in Gdansk.

Thanks to the terminal, Orlen will ensure the sequestration of carbon dioxide generated in refinery processes at its main production plant in Płock. Lafarge Cement, on the other hand, received funding in January this year for the Kujawy Go4ECOPlanet project, which envisages the launch of a CO2 capture installation at the Kujawy Cement Plant in 2027, ensuring a total reduction in the carbon footprint from the burning of clinker.

According to the assumptions, carbon dioxide will be supplied to the installation in Gdansk from industrial plants located in central and northern Poland. Initially, transport will be carried out by rail tankers, with the ultimate solution being the construction of a pipeline.

The CO2 will then be transshipped onto ships and transported to sequestration sites, presumably depleted hydrocarbon deposits under the seabed. PGNiG Upstream Norway, a company of the Orlen Group, has a preliminary agreement with the Norwegian company Horisont Energia for the purchase of a 50 % stake in the concession for the Polaris offshore storage project with a capacity of 100 million tonnes, located in the Barents Sea.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński