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Norway to launch $2.7bn CCS plan

NORWAY NORWAY’S government on September 21 sub- cement, CCS is the only technology that can cut
mitted a white paper to Parliament proposing to emissions. With Longship, Norway will support
The government has launch and pledge finance for a $2.7bn carbon development of climate solutions for the future.”
proposed financing CCS capture and storage (CCS) project. Total investments in Longship are esti-
projects. The Longship scheme will be “the greatest cli- mated at NOK17.1bn ($1.8bn), while operat-
mate project in Norwegian industry ever,” Prime ing costs over a ten-year period are expected
Minister Erna Solberg said, leading to emissions to be NOK8bn, bringing the overall expense to
cuts, the development of new technologies and NOK25.1bn, or $2.7bn. The Norwegian state will
job creation. foot NOK16.8bn of the bill, while the rest is to
Under the government’s proposals, Nor- come from private investors.
way would fund a carbon capture project at a Equinor last year signed memoranda of
cement factory in the country’s south operated understanding (MoUs) with seven companies
by Germany’s HeidelbergCement. It would on potentially storing their carbon using North-
also pay for a facility to capture emissions at ern Lights. One of those companies, Sweden’s
a waste incineration plant in Oslo run by For- biggest oil refiner Preem, later said it would use
tum, provided that the Finish firm can find the project to store up to 500,000 tpy of CO2
external investment. emissions starting from 2025.
Oslo is also looking to finance North- The partners at the NOK6.9bn Northern
ern Lights, a joint venture between Norway’s Lights scheme took a final investment decision
Equinor, Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total, (FID) on its first phase in May 2020. But the
which aims to establish a CCS chain for carrying project will also need a separate FID from the
these captured emissions and injecting them into Norwegian government and clearance from reg-
offshore reservoirs for storage. Initially Northern ulators to be realised. Equinor has conceded that
Lights’ capacity will be 1.5mn tonnes per year, it will not turn a profit from Northern Lights’
but this will rise to 5mn tpy before the first phase first stage.
is done. “We are losing money on the first phase, but
Norway has committed to bringing down its have strong belief that we will be able to create a
emissions by 50-55% by 2030 and sees CCS as working business within a few years,” Equinor’s
vital for reaching this target. It already has some head for the project, Sverre Johannesen Overaa,
small CCS projects in operation at the Sleipner told Reuters on September 22.
and Snohvit gas fields, but nothing nearly on the The company is hopeful of breaking even
scale of what is now being proposed. once transport and storage capacity reaches 5mn
“For the world to achieve the goals that we tpy, he said, adding that Northern Lights had at
have committed ourselves to in the Paris Agree- least 11 potential customers, including two in
ment, we need large-scale carbon capture and Norway. Previously the company has said it will
storage,” Norwegian Climate Minister Sveinung charge €35-55 per tonne of CO2 it takes.
Rotevatn commented. “Not all emissions can “I think by 2030 we should hopefully see that
be cut by applying renewable energy. In sev- it is operating as a regular business,” Johannesen
eral industrial processes, such as production of Overaa said. ™

Week 38 24•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17