Statoil has won the World Petroleum Congress's technology prize for 2002, for the group's underground injection of carbon dioxide at the Sleipner West field in the North Sea.
The Statoil project came first of 78 nominees in the technology development category. The prize will be awarded during the 17th World Petroleum Congress, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in September.
Stig Bergseth, senior vice president for health, safety and the environment in Statoil sees the award as recognition of the group's work to develop technology which makes it possible to carry out operations without causing harm to the environment.
"We are facing major environmental challenges in many of the areas where we operate," says Mr Bergseth. "This prize confirms that our efforts to meet these challenges are attracting attention internationally."
Through the removal and injection of carbon dioxide from the gas produced on the Sleipner West field, emissions of that greenhouse gas to the air are reduced by about one million tonnes per year.
Statoil's project began with preliminary studies in 1990 and it was put into operation in 1996. Studies are now underway to find out how injected carbon dioxide moves in the underground formation, 1,000 metres below the seabed.
Plans call for this technology to be used later in the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea. The wellstream from the gas field will be piped to shore where carbon dioxide will be separated out and piped back to the field for injection into a sub-surface reservoir.