Longship: Carbon Capture and Storage in Norway’s North Sea

Longship is a Norwegian megaproject designed to create a full-chain carbon capture and storage network, linking industrial capture sites to offshore storage in the North Sea. The Norwegian government is funding approximately two-thirds of the first phase, valued at over C$3.5 billion, to overcome high upfront costs and regulatory barriers. The project includes two initial capture sites—a cement factory in Brevik and a waste-to-energy plant in Oslo—and the Northern Lights transport and storage facility. While phase one is heavily subsidized, phase two aims for commercial viability by providing storage services to industrial emitters across Europe. The document highlights the importance of addressing non-financial barriers, such as regulatory red tape, and leveraging existing national expertise to jumpstart a regional CCS market.

• The Longship project is a state-led initiative where the Norwegian government is expected to cover approximately two-thirds of the phase-one costs, which are valued at over C$3.5 billion.
• Phase one of the network connects two specific capture sites—a cement factory in Brevik (owned by Norcem-Heldelberg) and a waste-to-energy plant in Oslo (Hafslund Oslo Celsio)—each aiming to capture 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
• The Northern Lights component handles transport and storage, with phase one expected to be complete by mid-2024 providing 1.5 megatonnes of annual storage capacity, increasing to 5-7 megatonnes per year by 2026 in phase two.
• Norway is using Longship to establish a cross-border commercial market for CCS in Europe, evidenced by a September 2022 agreement to store up to 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from the Yara Sluiskil plant in the Netherlands by 2025.
• To drive long-term demand for CCS, Norway is implementing a steep carbon price trajectory, with the price for fossil energy products slated to reach NOK 2000 (C$275) per tonne by 2030.
• The project addresses critical non-financial barriers by using the state enterprise Gassnova as a technical advisor to navigate regulatory hurdles, including zoning-plan permitting and quay-to-offshore licensing.
• Critics argue that public funding for Longship acts as a fossil-fuel subsidy because the transport and storage terminal is managed by an oil and gas consortium.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (2023). Longship: Carbon Capture and Storage in Norway’s North Sea. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/longship-carbon-capture-and-storage-in-norways-north-sea/

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. Longship: Carbon Capture and Storage in Norway’s North Sea. 2023. https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/longship-carbon-capture-and-storage-in-norways-north-sea/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=Longship: Carbon Capture and Storage in Norway’s North Sea |date=14 February 2023 |url=https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/longship-carbon-capture-and-storage-in-norways-north-sea/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitute2023longship, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{Longship: Carbon Capture and Storage in Norway’s North Sea}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/longship-carbon-capture-and-storage-in-norways-north-sea/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }