Norway launches largest CO ₂ capture and storage project

Norway is moving decisively on the path to becoming the leading country in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (_CO2), one of the solutions that should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Norwegian Parliament gave the green light in mid-December to the budget of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, which includes funding for the Northern Lights project, the first part of a huge CO capture and storage project.₂ (CCS), led and voted for mostly by the Norwegian Government. Baptized with the name of Langskip (Longship in English), referring to Viking ships, it is the first major project on a global scale, since it has the objective that other European countries also use this future infrastructure to store their _CO2.

Carbon dioxide will be stored 2,600 meters deep in the North Sea

The Longship has the initial goal of capturing _CO2 from a cement plant around Oslo and sending it in liquid form to a terminal on norway’s west coast. From there, the liquefied _CO2 will be transported by pipeline to a storage site 2,600 meters deep in the North Sea, where it will be permanently retained. The intention is to be able to do the same with emissions from a waste incinerator, and extend it later to other polluting industries.

The Northern Lights is the project in charge of the transport and storage of _CO2, the result of a joint venture of the Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor (formerly Statoil), the Anglo-Dutch Shell and the French Total. The big oil companies are pioneers in the development of this technology, since the capture, transport and storage of carbon is a process similar to that of their traditional activity of production and transport of hydrocarbons. In addition, storage requires geological knowledge that these companies already possess, and the old depleted deposits are potential deposits.

The country would become the leader of this technology to reduce emissions into the atmosphere

The facilities are expected to be operational by 2024 and have a lifespan of 25 years. In the first phase, the Northern Lights project aims to capture and store 1.5 million tons of _CO2 annually, up to a total of 40 million. If a second phase of development is decided, the storage capacity could be expanded to five million tonnes per year. Experience with the operation of the plant in phase one will be crucial to know how much _CO2 can be stored in the tank.

Following the green light from the Norwegian Parliament to allocate funds for the implementation of the Longship and grant state aid, the Government of Erna Solberg ratified its leadership in the project. The estimated cost of building and operating the Longship is NOK 25.1 billion (about €2.4 billion), and the Norwegian state will cover about €1.6 billion, or about two-thirds of the total. Equinor, Shell and Total presented their development plan in May, committing an investment of about 662 million euros.

The plan is the result of a joint venture between European energy companies Equinor, Shell and Total

“Carbon capture and storage is important to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru, who stressed that the Longship is Norway’s largest climate project and is “viable” thanks to joint work with industry. According to Equinor CEO Anders Opedal, this is a “pioneering” project to reduce industrial emissions in Norway and Europe. According to Norwegian newspaper E24, last year Equinor signed letters of intent with several industry players who would consider storing CO2 on the Norwegian platform, such as French multinational Air Liquide, steel giant Arcelor Mittal and Swedish oil company Preem. “We’ve seen a lot of interest; we have signed nine letters of intent, and we also have more than 50 companies that have contacted us to request information,” explained the CEO of Equinor.

The Longship comes less than a decade after Norway scrapped another ambitious CCS project, which then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg likened to a “moon landing.” Finally, the complexity and the very high costs made it unfeasible. But times have changed.

Source: The Vanguard