Thursday 17 December 2020

Northern Lights: Norway agrees to fund CO2 transport and storage project

Northern Lights: Norway agrees to fund CO2 transport and storage project

The Norwegian Government has announced its funding decision for Northern Lights, a CO2 transport and storage project in Norway.

It will be an open and available infrastructure enabling transport of CO2 from industrial capture sites to a terminal in Øygarden for intermediate storage before being transported by a pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 metres under the seabed.

It is a joint collaboration between the government and energy companies Equinor, Shell and Total, with Microsoft joining as technology partner in October this year.

The energy firms made a conditional investment decision on the Northern Lights project in May 2020 and are now in the process of establishing a joint venture – subject to merger clearance – for all project activities.

Northern Lights is the transport and storage component of Longship, the government's full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Tina Bru said: “Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is important to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. 'Longship' is the largest climate project ever in the Norwegian industry and will contribute substantially to the development of CCS as an efficient mitigation measure.

“Working together with the industry, the step-by-step approach has confirmed that the project is feasible. I want to thank the Northern Lights partners Equinor, Shell and Total - and I am looking forward to our continued co-operation.”

Northern Lights will be the first-ever cross-border, open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network and offers European industrial emitters the opportunity to store their CO2 safely and permanently underground.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden added: “The Norwegian government’s initiative and support for what will be the world’s first open source CO2, transport and storage project shows real vision and commitment. Northern Lights is designed to provide a service to industrial emitters who can now take action on emissions that can’t be avoided. This is key to bringing real progress towards tackling climate change. Shell will play our part in making this a reality.”

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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