TotalEnergies, Partners Reach FID for Northern Lights CCS Phase 2

TotalEnergies and partners Equinor and Shell will move forward with the second phase of the Northern Lights carbon storage project in the Norwegian North Sea, according to a news release March 27, agreeing to spend about $700 million.

The final investment decision for the project’s second phase followed the signing of a 15-year commercial agreement between Northern Lights and Stockholm Exergi, a Swedish district energy provider, for the cross-border transport and storage of 900,000 tons of biogenic CO₂ emissions annually starting in 2028, TotalEnergies said.

“The decision to expand our CO₂ transport and storage services represents the next step in building a commercially viable CCS market in Europe,” said Tim Heijn, managing director of the Northern Lights JV. “It confirms Northern Lights’ commitment to offer an effective solution for companies to reduce emissions. The investment decision is an important milestone for our company, our customers and industry partners, governments and regulators.”

The second phase is expected to increase the project’s transport and storage capacity to more than 5 million tons of CO₂ per year in 2028, up from about 1.5 million today. The expansion will include new onshore storage tanks, pumps, a jetty, injection wells and transport vessels.

Operations for the first phase of Northern Lights are scheduled to start this summer. CO₂ will be transported via ship from Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik, Norway, for injection and permanent storage into a reservoir 2,600 m below the seabed off Norway, according to the release.