SLB, Northern Lights partner with Microsoft for CCS project optimisation
New York-listed technology company SLB and Northern Lights joint venture have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to optimise integrated cloud-based workflows for the operation of Northern Lights CCS project in Norway, SLB said on December 11.
“Digital workflows are a key component to successfully managing CO2 through the end-to-end value chain, from capture point to permanent storage,” said Borre Jacobsen, managing director of Northern Lights.
The initial phases of the collaboration will see SLB extend its existing digital CCS workflows and numerical simulation systems on its Delfi platform. This platform was deployed to streamline the subsurface workflows of Northern Lights in 2022.
Microsoft will contribute by deploying and extending its Microsoft Azure platform, providing scalable cloud services to support Northern Lights' operations and SLB's digital CCS workflows. Additionally, the collaboration is focused on developing an Azure-compliant open-source data platform, which will serve as the digital infrastructure for Northern Lights, ensuring transparency and accessibility of data.
"In less than three decades, CCS must scale up by 100-200 times to have the expected impact on global net-zero ambitions," said Trygve Randen, senior vice president of digital products and solutions at SLB. "Digital solutions have a key role to play in enabling the necessary speed and scale for CCS."
The Northern Lights project will transport captured CO2 from industrial sites by ship to a terminal in western Norway for temporary storage. Subsequently, the CO2 will be transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600m beneath the seabed.
The first phase development has a storage capacity of 1.5mn tonnes/year of CO2 and the company has already entered into commercial transport and storage agreements with Yara and Orsted.
The Northern Lights joint venture, a collaboration between energy majors Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, has secured €131mn ($141mn) in funding from the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) scheme.