Northern Lights: Second LNG-fueled LCO2 carrier named in Norway

Northern Pathfinder, the second LNG-powered CO2 transport ship built for Northern Lights, a joint venture (JV) between energy majors Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, has been named.

The naming ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway, on June 17, 2025.

Delivered at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry in China in December 2024, Northern Pathfinder is the second LNG-powered liquid CO2 (LCO2) transport ship that will service the ‘world’s first’ cross-border CO2 transport and storage facility.

The ship was named during the Norwegian Ministry of Energy’s Longship launch event held on June 17 and 18 to celebrate the official commencement of the Longship project.

To remind, Longship is Norway’s largest climate initiative and Europe’s first full-scale value chain for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The JV’s CO2 vessel fleet is said to be a key part of the Longship’s CCS value chain.

On June 18, members of the Norwegian Royal Family, government officials, and people involved in the project were welcomed onboard the vessel. Northern Pathfinder will be deployed in what is said to be the world’s first full-scale CCS value chain project, transporting liquefied CO2 from recovery facilities in Norway to a receiving station in Øygarden in western Norway.

“With the Northern Pathfinder our first two CO₂ transport ships are ready for operations. The first vessel, Northern Pioneer, has already started the commissioning phase transporting liquefied CO₂ from our first customer, Heidelberg Materials. These ships represent a crucial step in realising a scalable, cross-border infrastructure for CO₂ transport and storage, helping decarbonise European industry in a safe and reliable way,” Tim Heijn, Managing Director of Northern Lights JV, commented.

Capable of transporting up to 7,500 tonnes of liquid CO2, the 130-meter-long vessel will be managed by K Line Energy Shipping (UK) Limited, a London-based subsidiary of Japanese shipping major K Line.

Northern Lights project operations are scheduled to begin this summer. Northern Pathfinder and Northern Pioneer, the first vessel in the batch, will be transporting liquefied CO2.

Earlier this month, inaugural CO2 was loaded onto Northern Pioneer, marking an important milestone in establishing Europe’s first open and commercial CO2 transport and storage value chain, as per Northern Lights.

In related news, Northern Lights received approval a few days ago from the Norwegian Ministry of Energy for the expansion of the namesake CO2 transport and storage development.

As informed, the expansion in Phase 2 will increase the transport and storage capacity from 1.5 million to at least 5 million tons of CO2 per year. The project includes expanding the onshore terminal at Øygarden with a new jetty, constructing additional storage tanks and increasing the pump capacity, while the number of offshore injection wells will be increased from two to four.

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