PGS wins seismic work for Norway's Northern Lights CO2 storage scheme

International marine geophysics company PGS has been awarded the seismic contract for Norway's Northern Lights CO₂ transport and storage project, the company said on January 19.

“Northern Lights is one of the pioneering CO₂ transport and storage companies in Europe and we are proud to contribute with our technology to their ground-breaking efforts. I am very pleased to see that we now are taking another step in being awarded this data acquisition contract for Northern Lights,” said PGS CEO Rune Olav Pedersen.

Northern Lights represents the CO₂ transport and storage section of Norway's Longship carbon capture and storage project. It is a joint venture between Norway’s state-owned Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies.

Northern Lights will store up to 1.5mn metric tons/year of CO₂ under its first phase, and 5mn mt/yr or more under its second stage. It will initially handle CO₂ from a cement works and a waste-to-energy plant in Norway, but it is expected to help decarbonise other industries in the country and elsewhere in Europe over time.

The storage site is 2,500 m below the seabed, south of the Troll field, and will be accessed via a well drilled from Equinor’s Oseberg A platform in the North Sea. The injection well was drilled last year, and commercial operations are slated to start by 2024. CO₂ will first be delivered in liquid form on board carriers to a receiving terminal in west Norway and then piped offshore to the storage site.

Equinor has been developing the technology to store carbon safely and permanently under the seabed for 20 years and participates in more than 40 CCS projects.