The Chinese shipyard Dalian Shipbuilding has launched the newbuildings No. 3 and 4 for the Northern Lights consortium. The clients are Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell.
The two special ships join the “Northern Pioneer” (due for delivery in 2024) and the “Northern Pathfinder” (due for delivery in 2025). Like their sister ships, they are designed to transport around 7,500 m³ of liquefied CO₂ and are powered by LNG. The Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) is responsible for management. The two prestigious CO₂ tankers have also been given a “green” feature: Rotor sails from Finnish technology manufacturer Norsepower.
Northern Lights is the world’s first CCS project in which CO₂ is transported from land to sea and stored 2,600 m below the seabed. The receiving terminal in Øygarden, Norway, has been in operation since autumn 2024 and is part of the Norwegian “Longship” program. Northern Lights is part of the large-scale government project Longship and focuses on transportation and storage. The CO₂ is transported by pipeline from the terminal to the offshore storage facility.
Four newbuilds with a capacity of 7,500 m³ each, which are currently being built at DSOC, will be used for transportation. One of these vessels has been ordered by the German shipping company Bernhard Schulte and is due for delivery in 2026. All units have been chartered to Northern Lights on a long-term basis. The partners see the project as an important step towards decarbonizing hard-to-decarbonize industrial emissions and as a model for future business structures in the CCS sector.
Equinor has been entrusted with the construction of the onshore plant in Øygarden and the offshore facilities. The budget for this area is NOK 7.5 billion. This does not include the ships or the CO₂ capture facilities. The first phase of this value chain development is 80 percent funded by the Norwegian government.
The first phase capacity of 1.5 million tons of CO₂ per year is reportedly fully booked and the joint venture owners are working on plans to increase transport and storage capacity for the future.
Details of the tankers for Northern Lights
- Capacity: 7,500 m³ of liquid CO₂
- Two cylindrical cargo tanks
- Length: 130 m
- Transport conditions: max. 19 bar(g), min. -35 °C
- 34% lower CO₂ footprint compared to conventionally operated ships
- LNG dual fuel, wind-assisted rotor sail and air lubrication
