(Adds government's response, more detail)
By Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, May 9 (Reuters) - The Dutch government has
granted a consortium that includes oil majors Royal Dutch Shell
and ExxonMobil around 2 billion euros ($2.4
billion) in subsidies for what is set to become one of the
largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the world,
the Port of Rotterdam said on Sunday.
Shell and Exxon requested the subsidies in January together
with industrial gas suppliers Air Liquide and Air Products
for a project which aims to capture CO2 emitted by
factories and refineries in the Rotterdam port area and store it
in empty Dutch gas fields in the North Sea.
The companies involved have been told that their
applications will be granted, port spokesman Sjaak Poppe told
Reuters, confirming an earlier report by Dutch public
broadcaster NOS.
This clears the most important hurdle for the project, which
is set to become operational in 2024 and is expected to reduce
emissions in the industrial cluster surrounding Europe's largest
sea port by around 10%.
Economy ministry spokesman Dion Huidekooper declined to
comment on the reports on Sunday evening.
Details of the subsidies would be made public after
decisions had been taken on all applications for this year, he
said, which was expected to happen later this month.
The government has said it will grant a total of 5 billion
euros in subsidies in 2021 for technologies that will help it
achieve its climate goals.
It received applications for a total sum of 6.4 billion
euros.
The CCS subsidies are meant to compensate the companies for
the extra costs of capturing the greenhouse gasses instead of
emitting them, while the port will provide the necessary
infrastructure to transport the carbon dioxide to the empty
offshore gas fields.
Home to many large industries and Europe's main seaport, the
Netherlands is among the countries with the highest emissions of
greenhouse gasses per capita in Europe.
It aims to lower emissions by 55% relative to 1990 levels by
2030. Emissions were down 24.5% from 1990 levels last year.
($1 = 0.8222 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; editing by David Evans)
