Knowledge Sharing Conference
ERIA Showcases Norway’s Northern Lights CCS Project to Deepen CCUS Technical Insights Across Asia
The 18th Knowledge Sharing Conference, 30 October 2024: The Northern Lights project is pioneering the advancement of Carbon, Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) in the world in which it has achieved numerous breakthroughs in its execution. Boasting a storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the Aurora storage site, this Norwegian government project is scheduled to commence injection in 2024. Reaching this milestone required an unwavering ability to overcome challenges related to engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC). However, Norway’s successes offer a wealth of in-depth technical insights that can greatly benefit Asian countries striving to accelerate CCUS development and deployment.
The Northern Lights Carbon, Capture, and Storage (CCS) project is part of the Norwegian government’s Longship project, which covers the full CCS process and features a 100-kilometre pipeline that links to an offshore saline aquifer storage site that sits 2,600 metres below the seabed. It is also the first offshore commercial CCS project nearing completion in the EPC process. Utilising the project’s pipeline transport systems, CO2 is collected and transported from Oslo, Greenland, and Sweden to an intermediate storage site based in Øygarden municipality in Norway. Although the Aurora storage site can accommodate 1.5 MTPA of CO2, the project operators are poised to increase the capacity to keep up with higher demand.
The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), as the secretariat for the Asia CCUS Network (ACN), highlighted strategies to enhance public acceptance of CCUS projects during the 18th ACN Knowledge Sharing Conference, entitled “EPC for Offshore CCS Transportation System: Lesson Learned from Northern Lights.” The event comprised a dedicated presentation from Mr Stian Sande, Strategic Director of Energy Transition, Subsea7 regarding the EPC process for offshore CCS transportation system based on the Northern Lights project. Subsea7 served as an EPC contractor for the Norway-led CCS project and helped with the engineering, fabrication, and installation of a 100-kilometre CO2 pipeline connecting Øygarden to the CO2 storage facility. Additionally, the company installed umbilicals, tie-ins, and pre-commissioning activities to complete the CCS project.
Mr Shigeru Kimura, Special Advisor to the President on Energy Affairs, ERIA expressed the ACN’s support for the establishment of the CO2 value chain that can connect an emission site such as Japan, with storing sites, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. This timely event and topic are of particular relevance for ACN supporting members seeking the valuable expertise and experience of CO2 offshore transportation, as has been done by Subsea7. Mr Kimura further encouraged the need for Asian countries to assess regulatory and legislative requirements to facilitate the successful deployment of offshore CO2 transportation.
Dr Gusti Sidemen, CCUS Research Fellow, ERIA, opened the Presentation Session and served as the event moderator. The presenter, Mr Sande, focused his presentation on the ‘Northern Lights CCS Project: Experiences and Lessons Learned from Offshore EPCI’ which began with an introduction about Subsea7. The company is a key player in the offshore energy industry, operating a fleet of 38 vessels, and works on the design and delivery of offshore energy systems. Subsea7 is an active proponent of energy transition and supports measures to reduce fossil fuel dependency and diversify its energy portfolio. The company is involved in four primary areas: lower carbon oil and gas, CCUS, fixed and floating wind, and hydrogen.
To provide greater clarity of the company’s work, Mr Sande gave an overview of the Northern Lights project which had its start in the late 2010s. The project was aimed to demonstrate the full value chain of carbon capture, transportation, and storage and it is also one of several subprojects within the Longship project. Other subprojects include a cement manufacturing plant where CO2 will be captured as early as 2025, and a waste-to-energy facility in Oslo to also capture CO2 and then transport it by ship to the Northern Lights terminal and through a pipeline to the storage location. The CO2 transport from the collecting station to the injection well uses compressors that are located on the onshore terminal between the storage tanks and pipelines. These compressors have an operating pressure of less than 100 bars while the design pressure of the system is 200 bars; an increase in pressure is planned in Phase 2 when more CO2 have to move through the pipes.
Mr Sande added, ‘There are commercial emitters that have signed up to supply or deliver CO2 in Northern Lights, so it’s moving from the demonstrator role to commercial role.’ The emitters include a fertiliser company from the Netherlands and a bioenergy facility in Denmark. The Norwegian government had an essential hand in steering the Longship project, namely in managing the risks as well as enabling the demonstration of the value chain. Subsea7’s role in the Northern Lights CCS project was everything on the seabed ranging from the infrastructure needed for CO2 transport to the pipeline that leads to the injection facility, and the control systems that feature fibre optic and hydraulic and electric cables.
When it comes to undertaking CCS projects, Mr Sande stated that it is still early days given that most countries are still developing these projects. As the first open-source carbon capture, transportation, and storage initiative, the goal was ‘to establish a market to manage the risks and to get all the framework and agreements in place.’ Mr Sande underscored the importance of cross-border agreements in driving this success. He added, ‘We’ve done studies that cross-border trade of CO2 is essential to bring down the cost of capture & storage.’ Moreover, the project led to the establishment of commercial frameworks and contracts between emitters and the Northern Lights joint venture partners as it had not previously existed.
Mr Sande admitted that the ‘regulatory framework, the regulations, and legislation are not fully there, and it still isn’t.’ Currently, the Northern Lights remains largely at oil and gas specifications and operates under the regulatory scheme of oil and gas, although he hopes for this to change in the future. The company learned that applying oil and gas standards as well as regulatory requirements can sometimes increase project costs hence to make CCUS economically feasible, specific regulations are required. One notable aspect of developing the Northern Lights is the collaboration between regulatory authorities and industry bodies, which have adopted an open-door policy and continuously engaged in dialogue. The Norwegian government demonstrated their unwavering support by playing a role from the conceptual phase to the design approval to mitigating risks and providing financial support. However, the government will not offer financial support for Phase 2 of the project, as is often the case in most countries, thus, the business must demonstrate its economic feasibility albeit challenging for CO2.
On the technical side, Subsea7 found that the shore approach is challenging and the landfall can be tricky. The company further faced obstacles related to temperature and flow assurance which necessitates that the CO2 does not move from the dense to gas phase in the pipeline which could result in water and ultimately, corrosion. Mr Sande detailed during the Open Discussion session that ‘the whole system, flow assurance, and the specification of the gas are done so that water shan’t be separated from the gas.’ Mr Sande shared, ‘A lot of effort has gone on into this to ensure its dryness and there are also strict requirements of CO2 in terms of dryness & impurities to be delivered to the Northern Lights.’ The emitters bear the responsibility of processing the gas to the required quality. As part of their task, in-depth work on the corrosion, materials, and welding of CO2 pipelines was also conducted. Additionally, the emitters are responsible for CO2 capture, in which there are currently two models: (1) An emitter hires an EPC contractor to build a capture facility and they will operate it or (2) An emitter hires a company to build and operate a capture facility and thus, pays a fee for the capture facility.
In summary, Mr Sande reaffirmed that CCS will be part of the energy transition, particularly to achieve emissions targets set forth by countries, global organisations, industries, and companies. The technical side of CCS is simpler than we imagine because the world has 30 years’ worth of experience in capturing CO2 for various activities, including oil recovery. As such, there is sufficient knowledge of the transportation and storage of CO2 coupled with familiarity with the technology and existing capture facilities globally. The challenge is how to make CCS projects economically viable which is typically difficult for waste handling and storage projects. Governments can play their part in the issuance of regulatory and legislative frameworks, funding, and risk sharing. ‘The government has a role to play, and it is all necessary to get the industry started and scale up,’ Mr Sande stated. This also highlights the significance of governments in fostering international collaboration and facilitating cross-border agreements to standardise specifications as well as allow CO2 transport from capture to storage sites in other countries. It is also crucial for the industry to work together with governments and organisations to bring down the cost in addition to developing an emissions tax system.
Mr Sande participated in the Open Discussion session which provided greater insights into the project and Subsea7’s contribution. Regarding possible challenges of the Northern Lights’ Phase 2, Mr Sande explained that although there won’t be any government funding, ‘the revenue and infrastructure from Phase 1 will be used, so there will be a small scope for additional infrastructure.’ The economics should be easier given that the necessary infrastructure already exists. Instead, Phase 2 will see a double increase in the buffer volume and the number of onshore tanks and two additional injection wells. This phase further requires a separate and ongoing bidding process. In answering a question regarding design specifications for warmer seas, Mr Sande stipulated that there is no real difference between colder regions and warmer waters. Even though water temperature is considered in the design, it does not affect the pipeline design much because the sea temperature does little to impact it.
Concerning measures to prevent pipe ruptures, Mr Sande shared that oil and gas pipelines undergo an annual inspection to check the integrity of the pipes. However, he reassures that there are ways to detect a leak and repair it or replace sections of the pipes. Moreover, earthquakes are considered in the pipeline design and structures to withstand them. Nonetheless, it is important to determine how to manage leaks and who is responsible for them, which are typically the site owner and operator for the first 20-30 years and afterwards, the government bears the responsibility. Mr Sande additionally explained that Subsea7 can install pipes of up to 35-36 inches, which are done in two ways: fabricate the pipes onshore or weld the pipe offshore. The company typically opts for the onshore method for pipes up to 20 inches or 60 centimetres in diameter. They can also bend the pipes using big reels on the installation vessels and coil it like a hose. ‘We do bend it and sail the vessel onto the installation, and we reverse that process. That’s the method we use on Northern Lights,’ he said.
During the session, Mr Sande answered a participant’s question about modifications of existing gas pipelines, in which he reassured that there are no modifications needed. However, cleaning the pipes and conducting an inspection of the pipelines is crucial to know their integrity before starting CO2 injections. He highlighted that specifications for pipelines might be required if it crosses into other countries; the Northern Lights pipeline is certified DNV F101 and has an expected lifetime of 25 years; the first pipeline has a design capacity of 6-7 MTPA of CO2. In response to a question about the benefits of Northern Lights other than reducing the carbon footprint, Mr Sande shared that it’s the first open source project demonstrating that the whole value chain works and so can the business model. When asked about the price range of CO2 per tonne, Mr Sande explained that he could not get a definitive answer from the joint venture partners or emitters, however, he estimates that it is between 150€-200€.
Dr Sidemen closed the Open Discussion session with a short remark that underscores the significance of government support and collaboration among governments. What is most important is for the two collaborating countries to have good faith in their work to facilitate the success of CO2 transportation. Dr Sidemen concluded, ‘If Asian countries want to have successful CCS projects, maybe this arrangement between countries in the region should be developed.’
In his Closing Remarks, Dr Han Phoumin, Senior Energy Economist, ERIA expressed his gratitude for the knowledge sharing of the Northern Lights CCS project as it shows that a whole value chain is possible from the business and technical sides. He said, ‘I think that this is important to show the world that we can do all this successfully.’ Going forward, it is necessary to discuss the ways to reduce project costs which would require the exchange of knowledge from many countries.
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