Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCS)
We’re storing carbon safely and permanently beneath the seabed.
How do we stop CO2 reaching the atmosphere and making global warming even worse? One solution this is becoming increasingly important is capturing and storing carbon (CO2) safely underground — quite literally putting it back where it came from. Equinor is a leading pioneer in this technology, called CCS.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage, CCS/CCUS, is an important technology for reducing emissions that can be applied across the energy system. And Equinor is implementing it now.
Why CCS?
CCS is one of the measures that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The International Energy Agency states that we will need to store billions of tonnes of CO2 every year if we are to reduce global warming.
25 years
We have been developing and using
CCS technology for more than 25 years
>1000 metres
CO2 is injected and stored safely
more than 1000 metres beneath the seabed
1000 years of carbon
A millennium of Norwegian CO2 emissions can potentially be stored beneath the North Sea
We are now pursuing new business models to make CCS commercially viable in the decarbonised energy systems of the future.
We’re leading studies on behalf of Norwegian authorities to develop full-scale CCS in Norway. The concept includes capturing CO2 from various onshore industries, transporting it by ships and injecting and permanently storing it 1000 – 2000 meters below the seabed.
Leveraging our R&D and innovation capabilities will be key to developing new energy solutions at an acceptable cost. We are focusing on options to maintain the competitiveness of oil and gas in a low-carbon future, with efforts in the area of storage and utilisation of CO2, decarbonisation of natural gas through hydrogen value chains, and low carbon fuel transportation solutions. We are also exploring synergies between renewables and oil and gas value chains.
Frequently asked questions
Northern Lights — a new business opportunity for CO2 transport and storage
CO2 will be stored 2.5 km beneath the sea bed, permanently and safely
Northern Lights will have an initial storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes CO2 annually.
Together with Shell and TotalEnergies, we are developing infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for transport and storage of CO2 from various onshore industries. The project, called Northern Lights, involves transporting liquified CO2 by pipeline to permanent offshore subsea storage.
The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project. The full-scale project includes capture of CO2 from industrial capture sources in the Oslo fjord region (cement and waste-to-energy) and shipping of liquid CO2 from these industrial capture sites to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast. From there, the liquified CO2 will be transported by pipeline to a storage location subsea offshore in the North Sea, for permanent storage.
The solution being considered will have an initial storage capacity of around 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Once the CO2 is captured onshore, it will be transported by ships, injected and permanently stored 1,000—2,000 metres beneath the seabed.
This solution enables large CO2 volumes to be accommodated—from across Europe—that would otherwise have been released to the atmosphere.
Smeaheia CCS
Equinor has been awarded the operatorship for the development of the CO2 storage facility Smeaheia in the North Sea. The licence is an important building block for developing the Norwegian continental shelf into a leading province for CO2 storage in Europe.
In its application, Equinor has submitted plans to develop the CO2 storage capacity at Smeaheia to 20 million tonnes annually, which entails a sharp increase in CO2 storage capacity on a commercial basis on the Norwegian continental shelf. Northern Lights, the CO2 storage facility in the Longship project, has a planned injection capacity of 1.5 million tonnes a year in Phase 1 available from 2024 with plans to develop the capacity to 5-6 million tonnes a year from around 2026.
Through this project, Equinor aims to contribute to CO2 reductions equivalent to half of Norway's annual emissions. Equinor has ambitions to develop further storage licences in the North Sea in the coming years with the aim of building a common, pipeline-based infrastructure that can contribute to substantial cost reductions for the CCS value chains.
Sleipner West
We capture about 1 million tonnes of CO2 each year from the natural gas on the Equinor-operated Sleipner field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Since 1996, the captured CO2 has been stored in a saline formation 1 km below the seabed.
Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM)
Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) is the world’s largest and most flexible test centre for developing CO2 capture technologies and a leading competence centre for carbon capture.
TCM is located at one of Norway’s most complex industrial facilities, Mongstad in Hordaland county. Mongstad is home to the world’s largest technology centre for development and testing of CO2 capture technology. The facility started operation in 2013, and it is owned and operated by Gassnova (73.9%), Equinor (operator, 8.7%), Shell (8.7%) and Sasol (8.7%).
The knowledge acquired from the TCM facility will be an important contributor towards the development of carbon capture technology.
Other CCS projects
We have decades of experience from CCS projects of various sizes, successfully maturing the technology from the R&D stage to operations, putting us in a leading position to contribute in making CCS reach commercial scale.
By sharing our research and expertise with research institutions, academia, other companies and authorities we also contribute to the further development of CCS worldwide.
Other relevant sites about CCS
To learn more about CCS and CCUS technology, how it works and how it can be applied, see the links to relevant pages here.