Northern Lights partners sign first commercial deal on cross-border CO2 transport and storage

Equinor 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.