Northern Lights carbon dioxide transport and storage facilities at Øygarden outside Bergen (Photo: Northern Lights)

The Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage facility, in Øygarden, near Bergen, Norway, was officially opened on 26 September. It is a joint venture between Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies.

“The completion of the Northern Lights facility marks an important milestone for the global development of a business model for carbon capture, transport and storage. It opens a value chain for decarbonisation of European industry and energy and shows the role we and our partners take in developing low carbon solutions in the energy transition,” said Equinor CEO Anders Opedal.

The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scope CCS project Longship. The project includes capture of CO2 from industrial sources and shipping of liquid CO2 to the terminal in Øygarden. From there, the liquefied CO2 will be transported by pipeline to the offshore storage location below the seabed in the North Sea, for “safe and permanent storage.”

“This project demonstrates what can be achieved when authorities and industry are working towards the same goal and co-invest to reduce risks,” says Opedal.

Northern Lights is the transport and storage part of the Norwegian Longship CCS project (Image: Northern Lights)

The first phase capacity of 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year is fully booked, while work continues on plans to increase transport and storage capacity in the future.

Equinor notes that it already operates carbon capture and storage systems at its Snøhvit and Sleipner fields on the Norwegian continental shelf and “matures new capture, transport and storage projects onshore and offshore” in north west Europe, the UK and the USA. 

The Northern Lights JV is a “registered, incorporated general partnership with shared liability”, equally owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell.

The Northern Lights facility consists of a receiving terminal, injection pipeline and subsea installations.

Equinor has been in charge of building the onshore plant in Øygarden as well as the offshore facilities on behalf of Northern Lights JV and partners. The budget of this scope is 7.5 billion NOK (excluding ships and CO2 capture plants).

The first phase is 80% funded by the Norwegian state as part of the Longship project.

Longship is a “comprehensive CCS project” initiated by the Norwegian government, aiming to demonstrate CO2 capture, transport, and storage at scale.

Northern Lights focuses specifically on the transport and storage elements.

Captured and liquefied CO2 at the customers sites is transported by ship to the onshore receiving terminal at Øygarden. From the terminal, CO2 is transported by pipeline for storage in a reservoir 2600 meters under the seabed in the North Sea.