The people responsible for carbon dioxide removal from Statoil's Sleipner West field won the chief executive's health, safety and environmental prize for 2000 today, 14 December.
The prizewinners include Sigmund Helland, Knut Røed and Dag Petter Berg in Statoil, who took the initiative for the project.
In addition come Tore Torp on behalf of the European Union's saline aquifer carbon dioxide storage (Sacs) project, Olav KÃ¥rstad at Statoil's research centre in Trondheim and Rasmus Haugland in Sleipner operations.
The concept for removing carbon dioxide from Sleipner West gas, compressing it and injecting it into the sub-surface has reduced emissions to the air by around a million tonnes per year.
Turbines with energy recovery systems reduce emissions by another 50,000 annual tonnes, while an energy optimisation programme has cut 250,000 tonnes.
These measures have reduced emissions of the greenhouse gas from the Sleipner development by roughly 1.3 million tonnes per year – about 13 per cent of the total amount released by Norway's offshore sector.
The jury for the HSE award notes that these measures represent pioneering technology which has made it possible to deposit large volumes of carbon dioxide in a safe manner.
This project has also attracted great attention world-wide.
"I'm pleased to note that a great deal of good and systematic HSE work is being pursued both in our own organisation and in cooperation with our external suppliers," said chief executive Olav Fjell during the presentation ceremony at head office in Stavanger. a