Norwegian and Greek firms team up on joint CO2 corridor project between Norway and the Netherlands

November 14, 2024, by Sara Kosmajac

Norwegian clean energy company Horisont Energi and ECOLOG, a Greek mid-stream carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) service provider, have entered into an agreement to ‘advance’ the development of a carbon dioxide (CO2) corridor between Norway and the Netherlands.

As disclosed, the project encompasses an endeavor to enable industrial-scale CO2 transport between the Netherlands and the planned CO2 hub Gismarvik in southern Norway.

According to the companies, the purpose of the cooperation agreement is to initiate partnerships between actors in the CO2 value chain, evaluate feasibility, and promote the implementation of a CO2 corridor between the countries with ‘clear’ milestones and timelines.

Horizon Energy co-CEOs Bjørgulf Haukelidsæter Eidesen and Leiv Kallestad have shared their belief that the agreement with ECOLOG, as well as Tata Steel Nederland, the Port of Amsterdam, OCAP, DNB, Haugaland Næringspark and ABN AMRO, could “strengthen Norway’s ties to the European continent” as well as turn more attention to the Gismarvik project and carbon dioxide storage on the Norwegian continental shelf.

“A Norwegian-Dutch CO2 corridor can enable permanent and secure sequestration of significant CO2 volumes to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future,” Eidesen and Kallestad both remarked.

Earlier this year, Horisont Energi performed a restructuring with three separate subsidiaries, Horisont Ammoniakk, Horisont Karbon and Horisont Infra, established to “facilitate pureplay industrial partnerships.”

Regarding the recent development, the company disclosed that Horizon Infra’s Gismarvik project could fit well within broader CO2-focused initiatives.

As per the company, Horizon Infra currently has plans underway for a phased development of the Gismarvik hub with an anticipated capacity of ‘up to 24 million tons per year’, which is believed to be equivalent to circa 50% of Norway’s CO2 emissions.

On the other hand, ECOLOG’s role within the collaborative effort will reportedly be to create a central export terminal in Amsterdam to collect and liquefy CO2. This terminal is envisioned to connect industry to storage capacity in Norway, and potentially minimize emissions across the region.

The agreement between the Norwegian and Greek companies is said to build on the cross-border transport agreement for CO2 signed between the governments of Norway and the Netherlands in April this year.

Specifically, back then, five northern European countries, namely, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, shook hands to wrap up the arrangements on the transport and geological storage of captured carbon across borders.

Northern Lights, part of the full-scale Longship CCS initiative revolving around the transportation, receipt and permanent CO2 storage in a reservoir in the North Sea, welcomed the bilateral agreements Norway signed with the other four countries, calling it “very encouraging”.

The Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage facility, which is a joint venture (JV) of energy titans Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, comprised the creation of a receiving terminal, underwater infrastructure (including the wells, pipeline and subs installations), intermediate storage tanks and onshore facilities.

It was completed in September this year, with an official opening ceremony conducted by Norway’s Minister of Energy, in Øygarden, near Bergen.