Northern Lights JV has successfully stored first CO₂!

Bergensia took a Grok into the fundamentals of the Longship project and the Northern Lights JV’s current deliveries and capacities for CCS. For the first time, we feel this technology might actually make a difference. Even though the project is just starting, its first deliveries are at about 0,13% of the total emissions for Norwegian oil and gas. The economics of the enormous infrastructure to make this happen make sense compared to not selling the oil and gas that are producing these emissions in the first place.
See our summary beneath the press release info.

The first CO₂ volumes have now been transported through the 100-kilometre pipeline and injected into the Aurora reservoir 2,600 meters below the seabed of the Norwegian North Sea.

We have reached an exciting milestone: We now injected and stored the very first CO₂ safely in the reservoir. Our ships, facilities and wells are now in operation.
Tim Heijn, Managing Director of Northern Lights JV.

Northern Lights will transport and store CO₂ from Norway during the remainder of 2025, with CO₂ volumes from Denmark and the Netherlands expected to be added in 2026.  

Northern Lights JV is a registered, incorporated General Partnership with Shared Liability (DA) owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell.

Commercially based investment for the expansion of Northern Lights
In March this year, Northern Lights made the final investment decision for the expansion project, which will increase transport and storage capacity from 1.5 million tonnes CO₂ per year to a minimum of 5 million tonnes CO₂ per year, following the signing of a commercial agreement with Stockholm Exergi. The expansion is enabled by a grant from the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF Energy) funding scheme. 

The expansion leverages existing infrastructure and includes additional onshore storage tanks, pumps, a new jetty, injection wells, and more CO₂ transport ships to enable an increased injection rate and volume. 

“We are excited to continue building additional capacity following the positive investment decision for the second phase,” says Tim Heijn. 

About Northern Lights 

• Northern Lights offers CO₂ transport and storage as a service.  
• Our mission is to enable the reduction and removal of industrial emissions in Europe. 
• Liquefied CO₂ from capture sites is shipped to our onshore receiving terminal in western Norway, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 meters under the seabed. 
• Northern Lights is the first company to offer commercial CCS services. 
• The first phase of Northern Lights is part of Longship, the Norwegian Government’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project. 
• Northern Lights will transport and store CO₂ from two Norwegian industries: Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik and Hafslund Celsio’s waste-to-energy plant in Oslo. 
• In addition, the Northern Lights JV has signed commercial agreements with Yara in the Netherlands, Ørsted in Denmark, and Stockholm Exergi in Sweden. 

Executive Summary: Longship Project’s CCS Milestone and Economic Impact

In 2025, Norway’s Longship project, a pioneering carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiative, began operations, capturing and storing 80 tons of CO2 per hour (0.7 million tons annually) from industrial sources like Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik. This marks a significant step in Norway’s climate strategy, positioning it as a global leader in CCS technology.

The project’s net cost to Norway is approximately 0.7–1.61 billion NOK/year (~70–161 million EUR), after accounting for ~0.14 billion NOK in revenue from third-party contracts. Comparatively, reducing oil and gas production to avoid the same 0.7 million tons of CO2 emissions would cost 1.3–1.95 billion NOK/year in lost revenue and taxes, based on market prices ($80/barrel oil, $10/MMBtu gas).

CCS is thus cost-competitive, preserves industrial and economic activity, and supports job creation in a growing sector, while production cuts risk economic losses and may shift emissions to higher-carbon producers globally.

Capturing just 0.13% of the emissions from Norway’s oil and gas exports (541.9 million tons CO2/year), Longship’s initial phase demonstrates scalability potential. With plans to expand to 5 million tons/year by 2028, the project strengthens Norway’s role in industrial decarbonization and global climate solutions, offering a model for balancing economic and environmental goals.

Until now, CCS had missed every single target and became a laughing stock