Statoil will be present today for the first day of the Storting's (Norwegan Parliament's) open hearing regarding the state's handling of the carbon projects at Mongstad.

The objective of the hearing is to review the recommendations and problems described in the report of the Office of the Auditor General of Norway on last autumn's investigation into the way the Norwegian state has dealt with the question of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The hearing will take place in the Storting's Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.

CEO Helge Lund will, among others, further inform the hearing about Statoil's role and the company's evaluations in its efforts to establish a  full-scale carbon capture plant (CCM) for the power and heating plant, as well as the setting up of a technology centre at Mongstad (TCM).

All the political parties represented in the Storting will have the opportunity to have their questions answered.

"We are pleased to take this opportunity to inform the Storting and further describe the assessments we made in the course of these demanding projects," says Olav Skalmeraas, who is head of the carbon projects in Statoil.

"Together with Gassnova, and on behalf of the Norwegian government, we headed the task of preparing the investment basis for the full-scale project. In September last year the authorities decided to conclude the project. Since then we have worked on documenting the project results in order to ensure that all we have learnt from it is retained and can be used in future efforts to refine CCS technology."

The hearing will continue on 23 January. Several companies, organisations and official bodies with connections to the CCS field will participate in the hearing, together with representatives of the current and previous governments in Norway.