Northern Lights lets cross border CO2 transportation, storage contract

Northern Lights, a JV owned by Equinor Energy ASA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and TotalEnergies SE, signed the world’s first commercial agreement on cross border CO₂ transportation and storage with Yara Sluiskil, an ammonia and fertilizer plant in the Netherlands.

From early 2025, 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ will be captured, compressed, and liquefied in the Netherlands and then transported by ship to a storage terminal 2,600 m under the seabed of the Norwegian continental shelf, the JV said in a release Aug. 29.

With volumes from Yara, Northern Lights Phase 1 has reached full capacity. The JV is working to mature an investment decision for Phase 2, which would increase total capacity to 5-6 million tonnes/year of CO₂.

Northern Lights is the transport and storage part of the Longship project, funded 80% by the Norwegian government. It is developing an open and flexible infrastructure to transport CO₂ from industrial emitters by ship to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600 m under the seabed. Operations are scheduled to start in 2024.