Phase two launched for Northern Lights carbon capture and storage project in Norway

TotalEnergies and its partners Equinor and Shell have confirmed the final investment decision (FID) for the second phase of the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) development, which will increase the project's transmission and storage capacity from 1.5 million to more than five million tonnes of CO2 per year from 2028.

The facilities built as part of the first phase of the Northern Lights project are now ready to store CO2 from industrial emitters. Operations will start this summer, with a first delivery of CO2 transported by ship from the Heidelberg Materials cement plant in Brevik, Norway.

The CO2 will be injected into a reservoir for permanent storage 2,600 metres below the seabed off the coast of Øygarden in western Norway.

The second phase represents an investment of NOK7.5 billion (US$720 million) and leverages existing infrastructure, both onshore and offshore. This capacity increase includes new onshore storage tanks, pumps, a jetty, injection wells and transport vessels.

The CCS infrastructure will be built with a scheduled commissioning in the second half of 2028.

The FID follows the signing of a 15-year commercial agreement between Northern Lights and Sweden's Stockholm Exergi for the cross-border transport and storage of 900,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 per year from 2028.

Northern Lights is also at an advanced stage of discussions with several other major European industrial customers to commercialise the remaining storage capacity.