On May 27, the European Commission approved a delegated regulation and its related decision, clarifying the responsibilities of oil and gas producers in the EU's CO2 storage target.
According to the provisions of the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), the EU has set a goal of achieving a CO2 injection capacity of at least 50 million tons per year by 2030, so oil and gas producers must contribute to this goal. This goal is of vital importance to the decarbonization of EU industry and the response to the climate change crisis.
On May 21, 2025, the new delegated regulation was officially adopted, stipulating the identification and calculation rules for European oil and gas producers who need to provide new CO2 storage solutions in 2030. Then, the relevant decision adopted the next day clarified the contribution that each oil and gas production company needs to make to achieve this goal.
The delegated regulation has now been adopted and is currently subject to a two-month review by Parliament and the Council. If there are no objections, it is expected to take effect at the end of July 2025, at the same time as the decision to determine the company's shareholding ratio.
More specifically, companies that produce 95% of the total crude oil and gas production in the Union between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023 will be considered obliged entities and subject to the payment obligation.
A total of 44 oil and gas companies fall into this category. Their contribution is said to be proportional to their share of EU crude oil and gas production between 2020 and 2023.
Among these companies, Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) ranks first, followed by OMV Petrom, Romgaz, Orlen, Eni, Wintershall Dea Deutschland, TotalEnergies Nederland, MOL Group, Shell Italia and BlueNord Energy Denmark.
Their operational CO2 injection capacity contribution obligations range from 6.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year (NAM) to 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year (BlueNord).
Last October, NAM, a 50/50 joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil, announced that it would end its exploration and gas production business in the North Sea, which it had carried out for more than 60 years. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2025.
On the other hand, producers of crude oil and gas that account for 5% of the EU's cumulative production during the same period are not subject to this obligation.
The 44 companies must provide operational CO2 injection capacity at geological storage sites by December 31, 2030, in accordance with the provisions of the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Directive.
The approximately $4.31 billion provided by the program is expected to help the country reduce annual CO2 emissions by 2.3 million tons from 2030.
