Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies are investing in the groundbreaking Northern Lights project. The project is set to become Norway’s first licensed CO₂ storage facility on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It plays a crucial role in the Norwegian government’s “Longship” initiative. The initiative aims to establish a full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain in Norway by 2024.
What is the Northern Lights Project?
The Northern Lights project encompasses the transportation, receipt, and permanent storage of CO₂. The CO₂ will be stored in a reservoir located in the northern North Sea. The project is part of Norway’s full-scale CCS project, which includes:
- Capture of CO2 from industrial sources
- Shipping of liquid CO2 to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast
- Transportation of liquified CO2 via pipeline to an offshore storage location subsea in the North Sea
Ambitions and Potential Impact
- The Northern Lights CCS project is set to begin operation by 2024. It has the capacity to store the equivalent of 750,000 car emissions annually in its first phase.
- Equinor’s Smeaheia storage site, located south of Northern Lights, can significantly increase storage capacity.
- In 2022, Northern Lights secured the world’s first commercial agreement on cross-border CO2 transport and storage. The agreement was made with Yara International, marking a milestone in the decarbonization of European heavy industry.
- Equinor, already one of the largest CCS operators worldwide, aims to develop further storage licenses. The company plans to build a common, pipeline-based infrastructure to reduce costs for CCS value chains substantially.
- Equinor’s ambition is to capture 25 percent of the European CO2 transport and storage market by 2035.
Key Facts and Figures
- Phase 1 of the Northern Lights project can transport, inject, and store up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
- CO2 will be captured onshore and transported by ship to the receiving terminal in Øygarden. It will then be pumped via pipeline to a subsea structure and injected into a geological formation.
- The geological formation is located 2,500 metres below the seabed in the North Sea for permanent storage.
- The facilities are scheduled to be operational in 2024.
- The CO2 receiving terminal will be located at the Energiparken industrial area in Øygarden, Western Norway.
- The plant will be operated from Equinor’s facilities at the Sture terminal in Øygarden. The subsea facilities will be operated from the Oseberg A platform in the North Sea.
- The storage site is located south of the Troll field. The Eos confirmation well, drilled in March 2020, will be used for injection and storage of CO2.
The Northern Lights project represents a significant step forward in Norway’s efforts to combat climate change. The project implements full-scale carbon capture and storage technology. As a result of the collaboration between Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, and the Norwegian government, this pioneering project is set to pave the way for the decarbonization of European heavy industry and contribute to the global fight against climate change.
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