11 March 2025

Offshore work for Porthos gets underway

With the arrival of the Valaris rig, offshore works for the construction of the Porthos infrastructure have visibly started. The drilling rig will be used to permanently plug the former P18 exploration wells. The P18 exploration wells were drilled in the past to form a good picture of the gas fields; no gas was ever extracted from these wells.

Watch the video of the Valaris’ arrival at the exploration wells:

TAQA, the current owner of the gas fields and operator of mining location P18A, will convert the existing gas production platform and convert the former production wells to CO₂ injection wells in the coming months.

In addition, Allseas, main contractor of the offshore operations within the Porthos project, successfully conducted a UXO survey. This survey focused on unexploded World War II explosives and took place along the route where the Porthos pipeline will be constructed. No explosives or ammunition were found.

Following the UXO survey and simultaneously with the dismantling of the former exploration wells, Boskalis will start dredging works to dig a trench through the Maas channel for laying the pipeline from the hard seawall of Maasvlakte 2 to the north side of the Maas channel. LMR will then start pulling in the sea line from the Lorelay, Allseas’ pipeline vessel, to land. Allseas will then lay the marine pipeline further to the platform P18A.

Porthos is the first large-scale CO₂ storage project in the Netherlands and will make a significant contribution to reducing industrial CO₂ emissions. Porthos is needed to achieve climate goals and will contribute to global energy transition as a knowledge holder.