The EU's first commercial CCS project officially begins operations! Are oil giants set to unlock a new blue ocean?

Image source: Northern Lights official website

 

Abstract:

While most CCS projects around the globe remain only on paper, Norway’s “Aurora” project has already taken the lead in achieving commercial operations. Behind this milestone lies not only Norway’s climate “ambition”—to become Europe’s carbon-storage hub—but also the urgent drive of its oil giants to pivot toward a sustainable future.

 

Written by | Bell

Editor | Xiaoyu

→ This is the 1662nd original article from "Global Zero Carbon."

 

In August 2025, the global carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector reached a watershed moment in its history.

 

The highly anticipated Norway-based "Northern Lights" CCS project has successfully completed its first carbon dioxide injection and storage operation, marking the official launch of the world’s first third-party-focused carbon storage service project.

 

"The Aurora Borealis" is jointly owned by major oil giants, including Norway's state-owned Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies. It is Europe's first commercial-scale CCS project and also the world's first commercial platform offering cross-border carbon dioxide transportation and storage services.

 

The carbon dioxide injected this time originates from the Heidelberg Materials cement plant in Brevik, southeastern Norway.

 

After being transported by ship to the receiving terminal, the carbon dioxide will be sent via a 100-kilometer-long subsea pipeline to the Oygarden storage facility near Bergen on Norway's west coast.

 

Ultimately, this carbon dioxide will be injected into the Aurora reservoir on the Norwegian North Sea seabed at a depth of approximately 2,600 meters, ensuring safe and permanent storage.

 

Previously, most CCS projects in Europe remained at the planning or demonstration stage. However, the successful commercial operation of the "Aurora" project has proven to the world that third-party carbon storage services are a viable path forward.

 

The first phase of the project has an annual storage capacity of 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide and has already secured full bookings from customers in Norway and continental Europe.

 

Partners include Norway’s power company Hafslund Celsio, cement firm Heidelberg Materials, as well as Dutch fertilizer producer Yara, Danish energy company Ørsted, and Swedish power company Stockholm Exergi.

 

Meanwhile, "Aurora" has an even greater ambition: to position Norway as Europe's CCS hub, with plans to eventually store CO₂ from more countries in the future. ₂ 。

 

In March of this year, Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies made the final investment decision on the Phase II expansion, aiming to increase annual carbon capture capacity to more than 5 million tons starting from 2028. The project has also secured €131 million in support from the Connecting Europe Facility fund.

 

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been identified by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) as a critical climate tool, particularly well-suited for managing carbon footprints in hard-to-abate industries such as cement and steel.

 

The European Union has also set ambitious carbon storage targets: to achieve annual CO2 sequestration of 50 million tons by 2030, while urging oil and gas producers to collaborate and move forward together.

 

The successful commissioning of the "Northern Lights" project has injected strong confidence into Europe's carbon capture and storage initiatives, becoming the "hope of the entire village" for Europe.

 

01

Europe's "Noah's Ark" for Industrial Carbon Reduction

 

The success of the "Northern Lights" project lies in its establishment of a core hub for Europe's CCS market and a model for its business strategy.

 

As a key component of Norway's Longship initiative, the Aurora Project has established an unprecedented, third-party open-source cross-border network for carbon dioxide transport and storage, offering businesses across Europe the opportunity for safe, permanent underground sequestration of CO₂.

 

Source: Gassnova

 

Its technical approach is clearly divided into three major stages: capture, logistics, and storage.

 

At the capture end, the "Aurora" project itself doesn’t directly capture carbon dioxide—it instead serves as a "public transportation and storage service provider."

 

Industrial emission sources across Europe—such as fertilizer plants, cement factories, or waste-to-energy plants—must independently capture and liquefy the carbon dioxide they emit.

 

Next comes the crucial logistics phase: liquid carbon dioxide is transported via specially designed, low-temperature, low-pressure vessels departing from multiple European ports, crossing the North Sea, and arriving at the onshore receiving terminal located in Øygarden, Norway, where it is stored in 30-meter-high tanks.

 

Caption: The Aurora Carbon Dioxide Storage Facility located in Øygarden

Source: Northern Lights official website

 

It is worth noting that the first two dedicated carbon dioxide vessels of the Aurora Project—Northern Pioneer and Northern Pathfinder—were both developed and designed by Dalian Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

 

The ship is approximately 130 meters in length and can transport a total of 7,500 cubic meters of liquid carbon dioxide. This marks the first time globally that a commercially operational liquid carbon dioxide carrier of this scale has been completed.

 

Finally, liquid carbon dioxide is injected into the Johansen Formation, located more than 2,600 meters beneath the seabed of the North Sea, via a carefully laid submarine pipeline.

 

This geological formation belongs to a massive saline aquifer, whose pore structure resembles a highly stable, natural vault. Its exceptional sealing capabilities and vast storage capacity provide a nearly permanent, secure environment for the long-term containment of carbon dioxide.

 

The Aurora Project is collaborating with emitters across Europe. Many European customers, eager to achieve decarbonization through this project, are already lining up to "jump on board."

 

Currently, the "Northern Lights" project is actively collaborating with emission-reducing companies across several European countries. Many customers, eager to achieve their decarbonization goals, are steadily lining up to join the initiative.

 

The project has signed cross-border transportation and storage commercial agreements with three customers outside Norway, including Yara Group’s ammonia plant in the Netherlands, two biofuel plants under Denmark’s Ørsted Group, and Stockholm Exergi’s coal-fired power plant in Sweden.

 

This model significantly lowers the barriers and complexity for individual companies to develop CCS projects, enabling economies of scale.

 

02

The "Collective Manifesto" of Oil Giants

 

As the world's first commercial CCS project combining cross-sector transportation and storage, "Aurora" is not just one company’s bold venture—it is a joint climate action statement issued by three oil giants.

 

Source: Northern Lights official website

 

Industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, and waste management are pillars of the European economy, but due to their reliance on chemical reactions and high-temperature processes, achieving zero carbon emissions solely through electrification is currently almost impossible.

 

Therefore, CCS (carbon capture and storage) technology has been recognized by the European Commission as an indispensable key technology for achieving climate goals.

 

Meanwhile, the EU's Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) highlights that achieving the EU's 2030 CO₂ reduction targets will require collaborative efforts from multiple oil and gas producers, making this critical for decarbonizing EU industries and tackling climate change.

 

In May of this year, the European Union set carbon storage targets that fossil energy companies must achieve by 2030, with Shell and TotalEnergies prominently listed among them.

 

According to the document, Shell Italy needs to achieve annual storage of 1.55 million tons, while all of Total's EU subsidiaries collectively must meet a storage target of nearly 4 million tons per year.

 

In fact, fossil energy giants have long regarded CCS as a core tool for achieving emissions reductions.

 

TotalEnergies and Shell have both set a 2050 net-zero emissions target, clearly identifying CCS projects as a key pathway and actively participating in the development of multiple global CCS initiatives.

 

While Norway's oil company (Equinor) does not directly face the EU's mandatory targets, as one of the pioneers in the CCS field, it has continuously driven the research, development, and implementation of this technology since the 1990s—and is affectionately known as the "Father of CCS Projects."

 

Since 1996, Equinor has been capturing carbon dioxide from the Sleipner gas field, located in Norway's North Sea region. To date, more than 19 million tons of CO₂ have been injected and safely stored in a saline aquifer about 1 kilometer beneath the seabed.

 

Caption: Equinor's carbon storage facility at the Sleipner gas field

Source: Equinor

 

In March 2021, following the approval of funding from the Norwegian government, the company "Aurora" was officially established through a collaboration between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies.

 

These three global energy giants, leveraging their extensive industry experience and resources, have significantly accelerated the advancement and implementation of CCS technology by collaborating and pooling their strengths.

 

03

Norway's Climate "Ambitions"

 

Behind the three oil companies stands another heavyweight player in CCS— the Norwegian government.

 

To encourage large enterprises to reduce carbon emissions, the Norwegian government has been imposing a mandatory tax of $50 per ton on CO2 emitted into the atmosphere since the 1990s, while simultaneously focusing on the development of CCS technology.

 

In 1996, Norway launched Sleipner CCS, the first offshore carbon capture and storage project aimed at sequestering carbon dioxide underground, instantly positioning the country as a leader in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) field—both in Europe and globally.

 

In 2014, the Norwegian government further developed a national CCS strategy, clearly outlining objectives such as advancing technological development, reducing costs, and strengthening international cooperation. It also planned to complete at least one full-scale CCS facility by 2020.

 

In January 2016, Norway's Ministry of Energy launched a comprehensive feasibility study for a national-level CCS project, aimed at addressing Europe's challenges in industrial emissions reduction.

 

In September 2020, the Norwegian government officially launched the "Longship" carbon capture and storage project, with its transportation and storage components later becoming the highly acclaimed "Northern Lights" project.

 

Norway possesses significant potential for carbon dioxide storage. According to estimates by the Norwegian Petroleum Council, its total storage capacity amounts to approximately 70 billion tons. A report released by the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) also highlights that the North Sea Basin and Norway’s continental shelf are among Europe’s most promising regions for CO₂ sequestration.

 

Therefore, although Norway is not an EU member state, it plays a crucial role in advancing the EU's CCS objectives.

 

In 2022, the Northern Lights project was designated as a "Project of Common Interest (PCI)" by the European Union. Through the Northern Lights project, Norway has further enhanced its geopolitical position within Europe's energy and climate strategy.

 

Source: Northern Lights official website

 

Public information reveals that the Norwegian government has provided substantial financial support for the "Aurora" project, covering approximately 80% of the costs in the project's first phase.

 

Leveraging the North Sea region's superior geological storage conditions and mature offshore engineering technologies, Norway is steadily transitioning from a traditional oil-and-gas supplier to a leading provider of CCS services in Europe.

 

By capturing and storing industrial carbon emissions from the European continent, Norway has not only opened up new economic opportunities but has also deepened its integration into Europe’s carbon-neutral framework, positioning itself as an indispensable strategic partner for the EU in achieving its climate goals.

 

04

Written at the end

 

However, the development of the Aurora Project has also been accompanied by considerable controversy over the years.

 

A survey published by *Tracking Funds* magazine highlights that the project is grappling with high costs and insufficient transportation capacity.

 

According to estimates by data analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, the average cost of transporting and storing one ton of carbon dioxide in the Aurora project's first phase is as high as $145 (approximately €128).

 

In addition to transportation and storage, the cost of on-site carbon dioxide capture must also be considered, a cost that varies significantly across industries. According to estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA), taking ammonia—primarily used in fertilizer production—as an example, its capture cost averages around $30 per ton (approximately €27).

 

Based on the above estimates, Yara, a customer of Aurora, may need to pay between $140 million and $202 million annually (roughly €123 million to €178 million) to achieve part of its emission reduction targets for a single plant.

 

For a company that reported an EBITDA of $229 million in the European region last year, this expense clearly feels quite burdensome.

 

Additionally, the carbon dioxide transportation method employed by this project has also come under scrutiny.

 

Clean energy consultant Michael Barnard told Tracking Finance: "Loading carbon dioxide onto a shipping vessel is, in itself, an absurd idea."

 

Currently, the Aurora Project relies on dedicated vessels for CO2 transportation, but only two such ships are currently operational—each capable of carrying just 8,000 tons of liquefied CO2 per voyage, falling far short of the project's transport targets.

 

Although the company has commissioned the construction of two additional transport ships, expected to be completed by 2026, their exact operational timeline remains unclear.

 

Although numerous challenges still lie ahead, the successful injection of the first batch of carbon dioxide into the "Aurora" project has undoubtedly given European companies renewed hope.

 

 

 

 

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Reference materials:

[1]https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/norways-northern-lights-ccs-project-starts-operations-with-first-co2-injected-2025-08-25

[2]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-first-commercial-carbon-capture-and-storage-facility-in-norway-opens

[3]https://www.equinor.com/news/20250825-first-co2-volumes-stored-at-northern-lights

[4]https://www.equinor.com/energy/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage#projects

[5] https://totalenergies.com/news/press-releases/norway-first-co2-storage-northern-lights

[6]https://www.upstreamonline.com/carbon-capture/first-co2-volumes-injected-offshore-at-landmark-norwegian-project/2-1-1861790

[7]https://norlights.com/news/northern-lights-phase-2-expansion-of-new-storage-tanks-has-arrived/

[8] https://norlights.com/news/annual-report-2024-northern-lights-ready-for-operations

[9] https://norlights.com/news/northern-lights-designated-a-project-of-common-interest-by-the-european-union/

[10] https://ccsnorway.com/transport-storage-northern-lights/

[11]https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/industrial-carbon-management/eus-2030-carbon-storage-target_en

[12]https://www.euronews.com/green/2025/05/26/can-ccs-meet-europes-climate-targets-three-projects-beset-with-problems-suggest-not

[13]https://www.ftm.eu/articles/norway-carbon-capture-landmark-project?share=4xSuAsJ2gTn%2BN7gwUjkfKOUuLZyK6g6yfgOBI3eakpx5fXw6P%2BAJ2Mf5ttKMTm8%3D

[14] https://bellona.org/news/ccs/2014-05-norwegian-government-elaborates-strategy-ccs

Reposted from Global Zero Carbon