Innovative Bergen region company enables emission cuts in Europe

The plan is to capture the CO2 off the production in Yara factory in Dutch city Sluiskil. The liquefied CO2 will initially be stored in onshore tanks at Øygarden, prior to injection into an offshore saline aquifer via pipeline for permanent and safe storage, 2,600 meters below the seabed. The operations will start in 2025 and is scheduled to continue for 15 years.

Over the 15 year contract period, the Dutch factory plans to remove approximately 12 million tons of CO2 from its production in Sluiskil.

Confirms the commercial potential

For the Øygarden business, the agreement is commercially important.

- We are very pleased that Yara has selected Northern Lights as CO2 transport and storage provider. This commercial agreement gives us the opportunity to further utilise the capacity at our storage site below the North Sea. It confirms the commercial potential for CCS and demonstrates that the market for transport and storage of CO2 is evolving rapidly, says Northern Light’s Managing Director, Børre Jacobsen, in a comment.

Northern Lights is located in Øygarden, off the Western coast of Greater Bergen, and the company is at the forefront of developing CCS technologies as then develop the world’s first cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure bi 2024. Northern Lights enables mitigation of industrial emissions that cannot be avoided and accelerates the decarbonisation of European industry. CCS is a necessary climate solution to decarbonise industry and reduce or remove industrial CO2 emissions.

The CO2 will initially be liquefied and stored in onshore tanks at Øygarden, prior to injection into an offshore saline aquifer via pipeline for permanent and safe storage, 2,600 meters below the seabed. Photo: Svein Ove Søreide. 

Decarbonized future for food-production and shipping

Also, Yara is excited about the future plans and describes it as a milestone for decarbonizing hard-to-abate industry in Europe. Yara says CCS is key to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries in Europe.

- Clean ammonia can decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors like shipping, chemical production, and power production. It will enable the hydrogen economy, and the time to start using clean ammonia and hydrogen to decarbonize Europe is now, says Magnus Ankarstrand, President of Yara Clean Ammonia in a press release.

The world is closing in on 2030 and action is required to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. UN Secretary General Guterres stated in an address to the UN General Assembly on 20th September 2023: “We can – and we must turn up the tempo”. On 27th October 2022 in Oslo, EU Commissioner Simson expressed her conviction “that CCUS has incredible potential in our race to reach climate neutrality”. CCS provides a decarbonization solution to reduce climate emissions. The agreement between Yara and Northern Lights is desribed as a kickstart to the Eurpean commercial market for CCS.

Partnerships needed

New technical solutions need to be developed to realize the full potential of the decarbonization route.

- To succeed with the green transition, we need strong partnerships and support from governments and the EU. CCS is an important part of the solution. Together we can significantly reduce GHG emissions and take us further step closer to transform industry and reduce emissions, says Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Yara International.

He also underlines CCS projects need to be supported by a dedicated regulatory environment for CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.