The Longship CCS Project

Longship is Europe’s first complete value chain for the capture, transport, and storage of industrial CO₂ emissions. The project is under construction and is planned to be operational by 2025.

The stakeholders in Longship

Longship involves government support for developing the Northern Lights transport and storage infrastructure. Firstly, Heidelberg Materials‘ CO₂ capture project at the cement factory in Brevik. Secondly, Hafslund Celsios’ CO₂ capture project at the WtE facility in Oslo. Hafslund Celsios’ construction work was put on hold in 2023. When it became evident that the costs would exceed the maximum budget agreed between the company and the state. In conclusion, Celsio is working on ways to reduce costs. And will come back with a proposal to the government in the summer of 2024.

According to the plan, CO₂ will be transported by ships from the capture sites to the Northern Lights onshore facility in Øygarden. There, the CO₂ will enter the receiving terminal. Before it is being transported through a pipeline to the well. Where it will be pumped into the subsea reservoir. Heidelberg Materials and Celsio are expected to deliver approximately 400,000 tons of CO₂ each annually. This constitutes a significant part of Norway’s total emissions, equivalent to about 1.6 percent.

Contributes to new understanding

The Longship CCS project aims to contribute to new knowledge that can increase the likelihood of achieving Norway and the EU’s long-term climate goals. Throughout the planning and construction period, Longship has generated experiences that can contribute to improving the technical foundation for future projects. More over experiences in adapting to current legislation have been shared with the stakeholders across Europe, and both the EU and Norway are working to improve the framework for industries needing CCS to reduce their emissions and for the companies providing CO₂ storage.

Northern Lights offers CO₂transport and storage as a service in the market. Agreements between Northern Lights and other capture projects are commercial and not part of Longship. As of the end of 2023, Northern Lights has entered into agreements with Yara in the Netherlands and Ørsted in Denmark. The first phase of Northern Lights is now completed, but work is underway for a phase 2.

Longship is one of the world’s first CCS projects developing an infrastructure with the capacity to store significant amounts of CO₂ from multiple countries. With Longship, Norway is at the forefront of developing a technology that could be crucial in achieving the climate goals.

Why CCS in Norway? Norway has more than 25 years of experience with CO₂ storage. Research and development of CCS technology has been a prioritized area for the Norwegian government for decades.

Ambitious goals Longship shall contribute to the development of CCS, in order to cost effectively reach long term climate goals in Norway and the EU.

Public and private cooperation Subsidies and cooperation between government and industry is necessary to realize a demonstration project as ambitious as Longship.

Full Scale: The CCS Chain Heidelberg Materials will be realised as the first carbon capture project and then Hafslund Celsio. Northern Lights will handle transport and storage.

Carbon capture: Heidelberg Materials Heidelberg Materials plans to capture 400 000 tonnes of CO₂ from their cement plant in South-East Norway.

Carbon capture: Hafslund Celsio Hafslund Celsio plans to capture 400 000 tonnes of CO₂ from their waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Oslo.

Maturing a CO₂ storage site Gassnova, Equinor and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate have cooperated in developing the CO₂storage site that Longship will utilize.

Carbon transport and storage: Northern Lights Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies form the transport and storage consortium of Northern Lights.