Norway said on Monday it will carry out a feasibility study to look into various development concepts for storing carbon dioxide (CO2) at three different locations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

According to an agreement signed Monday by Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the country's oil and gas company Statoil, the study is to be completed by June 1 this year and is budgeted at about 35 million Norwegian kroner (3.94 million U.S. dollars).

"Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be an important measure in order to mitigate climate change and meet the emission targets under the Paris Agreement," Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien was quoted as saying in a statement.

"We are pleased that we have reached an agreement with Statoil on conducting a feasibility study regarding CO2 storage. After nearly 20 years of experience with such storage from the Sleipner field, Statoil is well equipped for conducting these studies," he said.

The world's first offshore CCS plant, operative since October 1996, is located in the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea, about 250 km west of Stavanger, Norway.

The Norwegian government's strategy on CCS contains a broad range of activities aimed at developing technologies for capturing, transporting and storing CO2. The latest feasibility study is an important step in the strategy's actions aimed at developing full-scale CCS.