Neptune Energy said on Dec. 10 it would undertake a feasibility study into an offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the Dutch North Sea, which has the potential to safely store about 120 to 150 million tonnes of CO2.

The private equity backed gas and oil producer said the study would assess the feasibility of injecting between 5 and 8 million tonnes of CO2 annually into depleted gas fields around certain Neptune-operated areas in the region.

Global carbon capture and storage capacity grew by a third in the past year, but it was far too slow to meet global climate targets, the Global CCS Institute said last week.

“CCS is crucial for the Netherlands to achieve the Paris climate goals,” Jan Willem van Hoogstraten, CEO of the Dutch government-owned gas firm Energie Beheer Nederland, said in a statement released by Neptune.

Neptune said the study, which will be conducted in cooperation with its license partners and CO2 emitters, was part of the solution to achieve the Netherlands’ goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 49% to 55% by 2030.