CO₂ transport and storage: Northern Lights

Northern Lights is owned by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies. The company is developing an infrastructure for transport and storage of CO_2, With capacity exceeding the requirements for storing volumes from Heidelberg Materials and Hafslund Celsio.

At Northern Lights in Øygarden, CO₂ will be stored in pressure tanks. Before the CO₂ is pumped offshore through a pipeline to an injection well. No offshore platform is required for these wells. And they will be controlled using existing oil and gas infrastructure on the Norwegian continental shelf. Much of the design and operation of these facilities is similar to that used for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Facts

• Four ships to transport CO₂
• Transport distance approx. 700 km (for Norwegian projects)
• Liquefied state of CO₂ (15 barg, -26°C)
• Onshore terminal in Øygarden (west coast Norway) with buffer storage, pump and heater (capacity of 1.5 million tonnes CO₂ per year (phase 1)). Each tank has a storage capacity of 680 cubic metres and stands above 30 metres tall
• A 110-kilometre pipeline, 12 inches in diameter, transports CO₂ to a permanent storage site 2,600 metres below the seabed, with a capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes.
  

New knowledge

The Longship CCS project will contribute to new knowledge that can increase the possibility of achieving the long-term climate goals of Norway and the EU. Throughout the planning and construction period, Longship has generated experience that can help improve the technical basis for future projects. The experience of adapting to current legislation is shared with the outside world. Both EU and Norway are working to improve framework conditions, for industries that need CCS to cut their emissions and for CO₂ storage providers.

CO₂ from Northern Europe

From the start, Longship’s ambition has been to make it possible for emission sources in Europe to transport CO₂ to the Norwegian storage site. Therefore, the receiving terminal has been designed with future expansion in mind. The number of pressure tanks can be increased. And there is the possibility of building an additional pier to receive two tankers at a time. The pipeline from the receiving terminal can transport large volumes of CO₂. Several wells can be connected to the end of the pipeline.

Regulations

In January 2019 Equinor was granted permission to develop the CO₂ storage site Aurora, on behalf of Northern Lights. The area is south of the giant Troll hydrocarbon field, west of Bergen.

CO₂ is stored in deep saline aquifers, to the sedimentary rocks. Above the rocks, there are roofing layers which prevent CO₂ from leaking. In the first quarter of 2020, Northern Lights drilled an exploratory well and confirmed the high quality of the storage reservoir.

Before the injection of CO₂ could start, Northern Lights needed CO₂ storage permit from the Norwegian Environment Agency. To comply with the permit, Equinor and its partners needs a robust monitoring system, similar to the one used many years on the Sleipner and Snøhvit storage fields.