Northern Lights Carbon Project Gets US$700 Million Expansion

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The companies behind the world's largest commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, Northern Lights, have made a final investment decision to pump more than US$700 million into the second phase.

Norway's Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway), Anglo-Dutch firm Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) and French company TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) confirmed the investment, which will increase the project transport and storage capacity from 1.5 million to more than 5 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year from 2028. The first phase was commissioned at the end of last year and comprises a receiving terminal in Øygarden in western Norway, alongside injection pipeline and subsea installations. It is capable of storing 1.5 million tonnes of captured carbon dioxide per year, beginning this summer. Liquefied CO2 will be transported by special liquefied CO2 (LOC2) carriers from various industrial sites to Øygarden, before being pumped through a 110-kilometer (km) subsea pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir in the North Sea, 2.6 km under the seabed. For additional information, see October 29, 2024, article - Norway Opens World's Largest Carbon Capture Operation.

The decision to go ahead with Phase 2 of Northern Lights was made after the partners signed a commercial agreement with Stockholm Exergi (Stockholm) to transport and store up to 900,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 annually for 15 years. Stockholm Exergi operates a biomass power plant in Stockholm, Sweden, and wants to capture and store the biogenic CO2 created from burning organic materials. "This is a major step in the further development of a large-scale carbon capture, transportation and storage value chain. The support from the Norwegian Government and European Commission (EC) has been important contributing factors to successfully completing phase 1 and advancing phase 2. That we are now able to progress the Northern Lights' project second phase on a commercial basis, demonstrates the value of public-private partnerships to reduce risk and attract customers," said Anders Opedal, chief executive officer of Equinor. Industrial Info is tracking 15 projects across numerous sectors related to the Northern Lights initiative, worth more than US$1.4 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.

Phase two will build on existing onshore and offshore infrastructure and will include additional onshore storage tanks, a new jetty, and additional injection wells. It will be completed and ready for operation in the second half of 2028. Phase 1 operations are planned for this summer, with CO2 from Heidelberg Materials' cement factory in Brevik expected to arrive at the receiving terminal near Kollsnes on Norway's west coast. Additionally, Northern Lights will store CO2 from the Hafslund Celsio (Oslo, Norway) waste-to-energy plant in Oslo, as part of Norway's full-scale CCS project named Longship. The initial 1.5 million-tonne-capacity of Northern Lights' first phase is already booked out.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).