Northern Lights partners sign first commercial deal on cross-border CO2 transport and storage
SUMMARY
With CO2 from Yara, Northern Lights is set to operate at its full first-phase capacity of 1.5mn metric tons/year.
By Joseph MurphyEquinor and TotalEnergies, the partners behind Norway's Northern Lights project, announced on August 29 they had signed the world's first commercial deal on CO2 transport and storage, with Norwegian fertiliser group Yara.
From early 2025, Northern Lights will transport and store 800,000 metric tons/year of CO2 that has been captured at Yara's Sluiskil ammonia and fertiliser plant in the Netherlands. It will be stored some 2,600 m under the seabed off the coast of Oygarden in Norway.
Equinor CEO Anders Opedal described the deal as a "major milestone for the development of carbon capture, transport and capture," opening a value chain "that is critical for the world to reach net zero by 2050."
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne added that CO2 transport and storage would be crucial for decarbonising industry in Europe. The French major aims to develop 10mn mt/yr of CO2 storage capacity by the end of the decade.
With CO2 from Yara, Northern Lights is set to operate at its full first-phase capacity of 1.5mn metric tons/year. The project is also due to receive CO2 from a cement plant and a waste-to-energy station in Norway. The partners are now working towards reaching a final investment decision on its second phase, which will expand capacity to 5-6mn mt/yr.
