Energy majors behind the Northern Lights project have signed what they say is the world’s first commercial agreement on cross-border CO2 transportation and storage with Norwegian chemical group Yara.
The Northern Lights joint venture, co-owned by Equinor (OSL:EQNR), Shell (LON:SHEL) and TotalEnergies (PAR:TTE), hailed the agreement as an important step for the development of large-scale decarbonisation of heavy industry.
Yara and Northern Lights have agreed on the main commercial terms to transport CO2 captured from Yara Sluiskil, an ammonia and fertiliser plant in the Netherlands, and permanently store it under the seabed off the coast of Norway.
Equinor president and CEO Anders Opedal said the agreement was “a major milestone” for the development of carbon capture, transport and storage.
“With the first commercial agreement for transportation and storage of CO2, we open a value chain that is critical for the world to reach net zero by 2050. Together with our partners, we are building infrastructure to decarbonise industry and energy, securing industrial activity and jobs in a low carbon future,” he added.
Value chain
From early 2025, 800,000 tonnes of CO2 will be captured, compressed and liquefied in the Netherlands, and then transported by ship to the terminal for storages at 2,600 metres under the seabed on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to begin coming on stream in 2024, with the ability to handle 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year.
Current customers within Norway also include capture of CO2 at the Norcem cement factory in Brevik and at a Fortum waste-to-energy plant in Oslo.
With the volumes from Yara, this phase has reached full capacity and the venture is now working to mature phase 2 for a final investment decision (FID) that would increase total capacity to 5-6 million tonnes CO2 per year.
However, scaling up to this level will require further work at the receiving terminal, offshore pipeline, and the umbilical to the offshore template to accommodate the additional volumes.
“Developing CO2 transportation and storage services is crucial for decarbonizing European industry: we are pleased to welcome Yara as first commercial partner for Northern Lights, which will help support its decarbonization strategy,” said TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
“TotalEnergies aims to develop a CO2 storage capacity of more than 10 million tons per year by 2030, both for its own facilities and for its customers, in line with its ambition to get to net zero by 2050, together with society.”
