Shell, TotalEnergies, Equinor Invest $700M In CCS Expansion

In another major move toward large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) commercialization, energy leaders Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies have sanctioned a NOK 7.5 billion ($700 million) expenditure to add volume to the Northern Lights CCS project. The choice is the opening of the second phase of the project, raising its capacity to store 1.5 million tonnes of carbon annually to 5 million tonnes. The upgrade comes after a major deal with Stockholm Exergi, where Northern Lights will receive 900,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from biogenic sources for 15 years.

Northern Lights is a CCS pioneer venture aimed at capturing, transporting, and storing CO2 emissions from industry permanently deep under the North Sea. It is at the hub of the Norwegian government's Longship initiative, a government-funded program for supporting carbon capture and storage technology. The initial Northern Lights phase is to come online this summer, first capturing Heidelberg Materials' cement plant emissions in Brevik and Oslo's waste-to-energy plant Hafslund Celsio. Now with phase two on the go, the project will be among Europe's largest CCS hubs.

Anders Opedal, Equinor CEO, highlighted the importance of this investment, saying that public-private partnerships have played a key role in driving the project forward. He attributed government support from Norway and the European Commission for making it possible to complete phase one successfully and for paving the way for a commercially successful phase two. That we can now advance the Northern Lights' project second phase on a commercial basis is proof of the merits of public-private partnerships to minimize risk and attract customers," Opedal said.

Phase two will include the construction of new infrastructure, such as extra injection wells, onshore storage tanks, and a new jetty. This will enable Northern Lights to serve a wider range of industrial customers looking to cut their emissions. The expansion is also supported by a €131 million (NOK 1.5 billion) grant from the European Commission's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), highlighting the EU's support for increasing CCS as part of its clean energy transition.

Irene Rummelhoff, Equinor's Executive Vice President, emphasized the essential role CCS has to play in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors. She mentioned the European Clean Industrial Deal, which recently emphasized the importance of carbon capture, transport, and storage for cement, steel, and chemical industries. "I am very pleased that the partners in Northern Lights have reached the second phase of the Northern Lights project.". Industrial-scale CCS is essential in the energy transition because it provides an industrial emitter with a means to decarbonize their operations," Rummelhoff said.

The growth of Northern Lights is part of Norway's overall strategy to become a carbon storage leader on the global market. Equinor has been working on developing several CO2 storage licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf and further afield through government-industry cooperation to develop a solid business model for CCS. The project is also an example for other areas to follow in adopting CCS as part of their climate plans.

The momentum for CCS has been gaining as governments and industries look to solutions that would help them deliver on climate commitments. The Northern Lights project serves as an integral example of large-scale carbon capture and storage serving industrial decarbonization. Operation for phase two is expected to start in the second half of 2028, and the project is evidence of a commitment to greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the long run and the driving of Europe's clean energy revolution.

With governments and industries under mounting pressure to reduce emissions, CCS is being seen as a key technology in meeting net-zero targets. By providing a commercial route for carbon storage, Northern Lights is not just reducing emissions but also paving the way for CCS investment in the future. With ongoing government backing and industry cooperation, similar-scale CCS projects like this one may hold the key to the worldwide struggle against climate change.