ABOUT THE ARAMIS PROJECT

A significant step towards achieving decarbonisation goals

The Aramis project aims to contribute to the reduction of CO₂ emissions for hard-to-abate industries. It will do this by providing CO₂ transport to unlock storage capacity for the industry.

The CO₂ will be stored in depleted offshore gas fields, deep under the North Sea. It will be based on an ‘open access’ philosophy so that other industrial customers and storage fields can be added incrementally to the system.

The project’s location on the Maasvlakte in the Port of Rotterdam makes the CO₂ transport and storage service accessible to various industrial clusters.

For more information, please read our brochure and watch the animation below.

HOW DOES ARAMIS OPERATE?

The Aramis project is an essential link in the CCS chain, as illustrated below:

1. CO₂ capture
CO₂ is captured by industry and made suitable for transport.

2. CO₂ transport

Industry transports CO₂ from the capture facilities to the collection hub on the Maasvlakte, either via onshore pipelines or by ship.

3. CO₂ collection hub
The captured CO₂ is delivered at a central collection point on the Maasvlakte. The collection point consists of the CO2next terminal and a compressor station. Aramis aims to use compression services from Porthos. The CO2next terminal will receive liquid CO₂ via vessels, temporarily store and pressurize the CO₂ before sending it out for transport by sea pipeline. The compressor station receives CO₂ supplied by land pipeline and pressurizes it for transport by sea pipeline.

4. CO₂ offshore pipeline
Aramis transports the CO₂ via an offshore pipeline to the offshore distribution platform or earlier branches on the North Sea.

5. Distribution platform
Via the distribution platform and spurlines, the CO₂ is further transported to the injection platforms of the storage parties.

6. Platforms and CO₂ storage
CO₂ is injected by storage companies TotalEnergies, Shell, Eni Energy Netherlands and other storage parties via wells into depleted gas fields where it can be stored 3-4 km under the seabed.

TIMELINE

Aramis will be developed in phases, thereby enabling the project to advance in step with the evolving low-carbon environment. It will also be established with sufficient flexibility to facilitate future CO₂ sources and storage options.

Cooperation with other CCS projects

Aramis aims to create synergies between projects such as Porthos – a CCS project underway in The Netherlands focusing on local industrial clusters - to serve more industrial clusters to support their transition towards sustainable production processes.

More information about other CCS projects can be found on our links selection page.

Aramis is a Project of Common Interest (PCI)

The Aramis project has been designated as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission (EC). The EC therefore acknowledges that Aramis is a high-priority initiative for achieving an interconnected energy system infrastructure in the EU. The Aramis project will be ideally placed to transport CO₂ from nearby countries such as Belgium, Germany and France.

Aramis is a MIEK project

The Dutch government has added the Aramis project to its multi-year energy and climate infrastructure programme (Meerjarenprogramma Infrastructuur Energie en Klimaat, MIEK). This means that Aramis is a designated project of national importance.

Participation

Aramis strongly believes that it is important to involve stakeholders and interested parties. This can be achieved, for instance, by:

Publishing information in the Government Gazette and free local newspapers
Providing information on the project websites of Aramis, CO₂next and Bureau Energieprojecten
Arranging formal and informal gatherings, including online and face-to-face information meetings, seminars and knowledge events
Publishing digital newsletters
Organising individual or clustered discussions
Holding official and unofficial consultations at both regional and national levels
Inviting parties to submit views and responses

Involving stakeholders is also a requirement from the Government Coordination Scheme (Rijkscoördinatieregeling).

You can find the summary of our Participation plan below:

Summary Participation Plan Aramis

Final Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail

The minister has determined and published the Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail (NRD) on December 2, 2022. This memorandum contains the framework for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be drawn up for Aramis. The EIA maps out the environmental effects of the project, such as the effects on safety, landscape, nature, soil and water. The aim of the EIA is to make sure that environmental issues are given a rightful place in the decision-making process for the required permissions. The permit process falls under the Government Coordination Scheme (Rijkscoördinatieregeling).

What happens next?
The next step is to draft the EIA. Various environmental studies for the different alternatives will be carried out. In a memorandum integral impact analysis (IEA) the effects of the various alternatives with regard to the themes of environmental impact, costs, spatial integration, technology and future-proofing are mapped out. Based on this, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs chooses a preferred alternative (VKA). In the EIA, the VKA is further elaborated and investigated in more detail for environmental effects.

You can read the Memorandum on Scope and Level of Detail (NRD) here: www.rvo.nl/aramis.