President of the Storting Learned About Carbon Capture

Masud Gharahkhani came to learn more about CO₂ capture, and there could hardly have been a better guide than TCM’s managing director, Ismail Shah.

Accompanying the President were Rune Bakervik from Bergen and Kamilla Bjerkholt Kleppe from Fedje, who are second and seventh on the Labour Party’s candidate list in Hordaland for the upcoming parliamentary election on September 8. Also present were Acting Mayor of Alver, Nina Bognøy, and Deputy Mayor of Austrheim, Per Lerøy. In addition to the TCM hosts, Equinor Mongstad was represented by Senior Manager for Asset Development & Climate, Sissel Nepstad, and Greenspot Mongstad by Project Manager, Einar Vaage.

TCM Crucial for Technology That Works

During the visit, Ismail Shah explained the fundamentals of CO₂ capture and underlined the role TCM has played in testing and verifying capture technologies that are already in use — or soon will be — at full-scale plants both in Norway and abroad.

“Both of the capture facilities that are part of the Longship project use technologies we have tested. The capture plant at Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik started in June, and a similar one will be coming at Hafslund Celsio’s waste-to-energy plant at Klemetsrud. But we must continually improve the technologies and reduce the costs of CCS in order to accelerate deployment. This is what we work on every day at TCM,” Shah emphasized.

Impressed by What He Saw

The President of the Storting was enthusiastic about what he learned.

“This has been very educational! I have long understood the important role TCM plays in addressing climate challenges both nationally and internationally but experiencing the operations ‘live’ makes an impression that strengthens this understanding. I’m cheering for you!”

Gharahkhani also highlighted the potential impact of TCM’s expertise in reducing local CO₂ emissions at Mongstad. He stressed that with an active industrial policy and long-term framework conditions, industry can gain the predictability it needs to make the necessary climate investments.

After presentations and discussions in TCM’s administration building, the President of the Storting and his delegation were given a guided car tour of the test centre and refinery before continuing on to Knarvik for further engagements.

First Immigrant to Lead the Storting

Both TCM’s leader, Ismail Shah, and the President of the Storting share an immigrant background. In 1987, at the age of five, Gharahkhani fled Tehran, Iran, with his family, where his father had been a well-known politician. After time in an asylum reception centre, the family settled in Skotselv, Øvre Eiker, Buskerud.

After completing secondary school, Gharahkhani trained as a radiographer and worked at Blefjell Hospital in Kongsberg and Rjukan. His political career began in the Buskerud County council before he became the Labour Party’s group leader in Drammen’s city council. In 2017, he became a permanent Member of Parliament, and four years later he was elected President of the Storting — the first person with an immigrant background to hold the position.