Aker BP and Höegh Evi have secured €223 million from the European Union Innovation Fund for a large-scale CO2 transport and storage (CCS) project that will permanently store CO2 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) from European industry.
The Atlas project, which combines regional CO2 aggregation, large-scale low-pressure maritime transport and offshore storage, has a design capacity of 6 million tons of CO2 per year, with potential to expand beyond 10 million tons as the European CCS market develops.
Confirmed as an EU Project of Mutual Interest (PMI 13.17) this April, being recognized as cross-border European CO2 infrastructure, the project has completed the feasibility phase and progressed into the Select phase, targeting a final investment decision (FID) in 2028 and first injection from 2031.
"Atlas demonstrates how regional aggregation and large-scale low-pressure shipping can efficiently connect industrial regions to permanent CO₂ storage. This flexible maritime model can expand as the European CCS market develops," said Nils Jakob Hasle, EVP Clean Energy at Höegh Evi.
According to Höegh Evi, CO2 will be aggregated at regional export hubs close to industrial clusters and transported by dedicated carriers to the Atlas storage site in the Norwegian North Sea.
The CO2 will be injected through subsea infrastructure into a saline aquifer for storage more than 2,000 meters below the seabed at the storage site located in the Aker BP-operated EXL011 (80% Aker BP, 20% ORLEN Upstream Norway).
"Europe needs safe and cost-effective permanent CO₂ storage. Atlas is designed to provide European industries with significant storage capacity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and capture economies of scale needed to reduce CCS value chain costs," said Ørjan Jentoft, CCS Asset Manager at Aker BP.