Within the spirit of partnerships and cross-border cooperation for CO2 transport, Fluxys Belgium and Wintershall Dea signed a cooperation agreement. This agreement is one of the many steps to accelerate the green transition and to contribute towards a sustainable low carbon industry.

Fluxys Belgium and Wintershall Dea have decided to combine their complementarities, expertise, and common vision on carbon capture, transport and storage (CCS) and as a result will start collaborating on the transport of CO2 from Germany to Zeebrugge on the Belgian North Sea coast.

Through this cooperation, industrial emitters located in Germany will be able to transport their CO2 emissions to the German-Belgian border. Through the Belgium CO2 network, the emissions will reach the pipeline-based exporting terminal under development in Zeebrugge. From this CO2 export hub, the emissions would be exported for safe and permanent storage sites in the North Sea.

The cooperation will start with a feasibility study.

Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea’s CTO and Member of its Executive Board: "With Fluxys, we have a strong partner to advance the expansion of the CO2 transport network and thereby create the necessary infrastructure for the capture and storage of CO2 emissions from industry. In northern Germany, we are already well positioned through our foreseen CO2 hub in Wilhelmshaven. Through our cooperation with Fluxys, we now also want to offer opportunities for the decarbonisation of industrial sites in southern Germany."

Pascal De Buck, CEO of Fluxys: "Multiple strong partnerships are essential in our focus area of developing open-access CO2 infrastructure to accommodate the carbon capture and storage chain. Thus, we are delighted to cooperate now with Wintershall Dea to accelerate the decarbonisation of industry in Germany and beyond. The initiative dovetails perfectly with Fluxys’ strategy to be the essential partner for speeding up the energy transition. The CCS chain is essential for industry to decarbonise while maintaining economic activity and employment. Our ambition is to provide the market the capacity required to transport 30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030."

About Fluxys

Headquartered in Belgium, we are a fully independent energy infrastructure group with 1,300 employees active in gas transmission & storage and liquefied natural gas terminalling. We operate in Europe and are developing activities in South America and Southeast Asia. Where the market is ready, as a gas infrastructure company we are also ready for the transition to a hybrid energy future in which carbon-neutral molecules and renewable electricity complement one another in the energy system.

About Wintershall Dea

Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 11 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. The company will exit Russia. More in our Annual Report.

As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU’s 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution, we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non-operated – by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. Wintershall Dea will also bring its methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025. We have endorsed the World Bank’s Initiative ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ and continue to support the initiative aimed at eliminating routine flaring in operated assets by 2030. In addition, we plan to support global decarbonisation efforts by building up a carbon management and hydrogen business to potentially abate 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2040. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.

Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG in 2019. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 people worldwide from almost 60 nations.