Norwegian and Swiss partners to explore capturing CO2 from air

Network CN

09/03/2021 14:12

OSLO, March 9 (Reuters) - Equinor-led  EQNR.OL  Northern
Lights venture and Swiss start-up Climeworks will explore the
potential for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere
in Norway, the partners said on Tuesday.
    Climeworks provides direct carbon capture technology, while
Northern Lights, which also includes Shell  RDSa.L  and Total
 TOTF.PA , plans to store CO2 in a geological formation under
the seabed off Norway's coast.
    Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Tina Bru said the plan
responded to a growing list of potential customers for the
Northern Lights site which could store up to 1.5 million tonnes
of CO2 per year from 2024.
    Direct carbon capture could help to offset unavoidable
emissions, such as from agriculture, which cannot be captured by
using another method, Climeworks Chief Executive Christoph
Gebald said in an online presentation. 
    Northern Lights is a part of Norway's ambition to develop a
full-scale carbon capture and storage chain, dubbed Longship
after the vessels used by Vikings.
    The government will cover about two-thirds of the 25.1
billion crowns ($2.96 billion) costs.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2GI2MA
    The plan includes a 400,000 tonne-per-year carbon capture
installation at a cement plant run by Germany's HeidelbergCement
 HEIG.DE  in southern Norway and potentially a second capture
plant in Oslo operated by Finnish utility Fortum  FORTUM.H .    
    The Northern Lights venture said CO2 storage capacity could
be potentially expanded to 5 million tonnes per year in the
future, depending on demand. 
    Bru said Norway had hoped the Northern Lights storage could
encourage more CO2 capture projects in Europe, helping achieve
the climate goals.

 (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Nora Buli; Editing by
Edmund Blair)
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))