News

In this newsletter an interview with Head of Joint Team Annemarie Manger on Aramis impact, an update on the realisation of the Aramis pipeline and looking ahead to the Aramis FEED phase.

After nearly two years, the preparation phase for Aramis is almost complete. Once the preferred options for the pipeline route and landing location have been determined, the project can enter the FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) phase.

A 230-kilometer pipeline connecting the Maasvlakte to the distribution platform will soon cross the busy North Sea. From the platform, a network of smaller pipes will feed into the depleted gas fields.

“Aramis will soon contribute to meeting not only the climate targets of the Netherlands but also those of the whole of Northwest Europe.” That’s the promise of Annemarie Manger, who became Head of Joint Team on 11 April.

On June 22, 2023 the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Micky Adriaansens, Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Belgium) and the Ministers Zuhal Demir (Flanders) and Philippe Henry (Wallonia) signed an agreement on CCS cooperation and cross-border transport of CO₂. The agreement was signed in Antwerp during the State visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Belgium.

This newsletter provides an update on the progress of the Aramis project. But first, let us start by saying we are delighted to welcome our new Head of Joint Team and four new Team Leads to the project!

Annemarie Manger becomes ‘Head of Joint Team’ for the Aramis project on April 11. In this new position she will manage a combined multidisciplinary team consisting of staff members from TotalEnergies, Shell, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) and Gasunie.

Last year, more than 20 potential customers showed genuine interest in wanting to team up with Aramis to become launching customers for the first 5 Mtpa of CO₂ to be transported and stored in offshore gas fields under the North Sea. Recently some launching capacity has been released. This limited remaining capacity (of around 0.3 to 0.5 Mtpa) will be offered by the Aramis Joint Marketeers to interested parties in a similar process that was followed last year.

Aramis aims to realizing a transport infrastructure allowing the industrial sector to transport CO₂ and store it in depleted gas fields under the North Sea. Aramis has established a specification for the CO₂ to be fed into the envisaged transport infrastructure. This specification aims to ensure the non-corrosivity of the CO₂ mixture under normal, transient and upset conditions.

On 2 December 2022, the Dutch government added the Aramis project to its multi-year energy and climate infrastructure programme (Meerjarenprogramma Infrastructuur Energie en Klimaat – MIEK). This means Aramis is now a designated project of national importance.

The minister has determined and published the Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail (NRD) on December 2, 2022. This memorandum contains the framework for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be drawn up for Aramis. The EIA maps out the environmental effects of the project, such as the effects on safety, landscape, nature, soil and water. The aim of the EIA is to make sure that environmental issues are given a rightful place in the decision-making process.

In this newsletter, we are will share with you what Aramis is currently working on. For example, we will look into the possibilities for enhancing nature in two hackathons. Universities, knowledge institutes, nature and environmental organisations and our own technicians have been invited to these hackatons.

On August 18, 2022, the environmental impact assessment commission (Commissie Milieueffectrappportage) has published its advice on the draft memorandum scope and level of detail (concept Notitie Reikwijdte en Detailniveau) of Aramis. This advice enables Aramis to take the next step and start up the environmental effect study (milieueffectrapportage). * Article in Dutch *

The Aramis project has been given the status of a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has published a new notification of the Aramis initiative on Friday 10 June. It concerns the concept Memorandum Scope and Level of Detail (c-NRD). On 21 June, the Ministry of EZK and Aramis are organising an information meeting about the notification. *Article in Dutch*

On January 6, 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) received a request from project Aramis for the realisation of a large-scale CO₂ transport infrastructure to deepen the storage of CO₂ in empty gas fields. under the North Sea. The announcement marks the official start of formal talks for the project. *Article in Dutch*

On 10 December, State Secretary Yeşilgöz-Zegerius informed the House of Representatives in a letter about the current state of affairs of CCS projects in the Netherlands, including Aramis.

TotalEnergies, Shell Netherlands, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN) and Gasunie formed a partnership to enable large-scale CO2-reduction for industrial clusters in the Netherlands.