CarbonCuts on site visit at Dansk Salt A/S well drilling near Hobro

15. team CarbonCuts had the great pleasure of visiting Dansk Salt A/S near Hobro in November 2023. Despite the cold, wet and gray November weather, wearing full safety gear, we were invited to get a guided tour of the site and thus got a very concrete insight into how an active salt well drilling on land takes place.

And why is this relevant to CO₂ storage and what we work with on a daily basis? Because at CarbonCuts we are currently designing and planning our upcoming permanent onshore CO₂ storage facility, project Ruby, at Rødby on Lolland. Whether drilling a salt well hundreds of meters deep or establishing an exploration well for a future CO₂ storage facility, there are many similarities between the drilling process and the entire setup behind it. And it takes months to prepare so that everything can be done safely, as gently and sustainably as possible.

Of course, before we can get that far, we first need to acquire an exploration license from the energy authorities so that we can start exploring the subsurface and start drilling in the same way on Lolland. But there’s a long way to go before then. And a lot of planning. Right now, we’re in the middle of writing the license application, and that doesn’t diminish our ambition.

We can’t wait to start exploring the subsoil in the Rødby structure in detail and later establish a CO₂ storage facility, so we can help Denmark and the countries around us reduce CO₂ emissions from industries where there are no other options for rapid green transition.

We would like to thank Dansk Salt A/S for the opportunity to gain this important insight and not least a big thank you for the very exciting tour of the busy well drilling site, which was given by Rasmus Lystbæk Petersen, Director, at WellPerform.

This particular site is manned and in operation around the clock – 24/7 – during the drilling period. It requires meticulous, well-coordinated and close collaboration between many actors involved with, for example, planning, operations and safety work. It’s fascinating to think that Denmark has SO much salt in the subsoil that it’s possible to extract huge amounts of salt year after year! Salt that is used for many socially necessary purposes such as the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Thank you once again for the visit.