Norway’s Longship carbon capture and storage project shows what’s possible when industry, government and public opinion align.
Australia’s efforts to decarbonise its heavy industries are accelerating, yet the pathway forward is steeped in challenges. Among the technologies often discussed is carbon capture and storage (CCS), which some in the industry consider essential for reducing emissions from sectors that are difficult to decarbonise through electrification alone. While Australia has begun developing CCS capacity, public sentiment toward the technology remains cautious. Looking abroad, however, Norway offers a compelling example of how CCS can be implemented at scale and accepted as part of a broader climate strategy.
Australia currently has two operational CCS projects: Chevron’s Gorgon project and Santos’ Moomba project. Several others are also in development, reflecting a growing recognition of CCS as a potential component of the country’s emissions reduction toolkit. Despite this progress, the technology still faces scepticism among sections of the public and environmental community, with concerns often centred on safety, environmental impacts and long-term effectiveness.
In Norway, the conversation around CCS has evolved very differently. Widely regarded as a global leader in sustainability and climate policy, the country has spent decades building both the technical and social foundations for carbon capture and storage. That groundwork has helped foster a level of acceptance that remains elusive in Australia.
“CCS is widely accepted and believed to be an important decarbonisation tool in Norway,” Tore Moe, a senior energy advisor at Norwegian Energy Partners, told The Australian Pipeliner.
“Even some of the environmental groups in Norway, like Bellona, are big supporters of CCS.
“Here in Australia, CCS has got a fairly bad reputation, and I believe this comes from a lack of understanding of exactly what CCS is.
“By comparison, there has been a lot of public information about CCS in Norway, which has helped shape public perception.”
Norway’s experience with CCS stretches back decades. Projects have been underway in the country since 1996, giving policymakers, industry and the public considerable time to become familiar with the technology and its role in reducing emissions. The latest initiative in this long history is the Longship project, which represents the most ambitious CCS effort Norway has undertaken to date.
Longship CCS
Originally conceived and supported by the Norwegian government through its agency Gassnova, Longship has been designed as Europe’s first complete value chain for the capture, transport and storage of industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Spanning international borders and industries, it is also the largest climate initiative in Norwegian industrial history.
The project centres on capturing emissions directly from major industrial sources. Longship’s first component involves capturing carbon dioxide from two facilities: a cement factory in Brevik and a waste-to-energy plant in Oslo, the latter of which is still being developed. Both represent industries where emissions are particularly difficult to eliminate, highlighting the potential role CCS can play in hard-to-abate sectors.
The Brevik cement plant captures around 400,000 tonnes annually, while the Oslo waste incineration plant is expected to capture roughly 350,000 tonnes. Combined, this represents about 1.6 per cent of Norway’s total emissions.
After the carbon dioxide is captured and liquefied at the facilities, it is transported by ship to the Northern Lights project, which forms the transport and storage backbone of Longship. There, the CO₂ is stored temporarily in tanks before being sent through a pipeline to an offshore injection well. From the well, the gas is pumped into a subsea reservoir approximately 2600m beneath the seabed.
Northern Lights currently has the capacity to store about 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, with an expansion under development expected to lift that figure to around 5 million tonnes annually. Importantly, the project has also been designed to function as an open-access service for the wider market, allowing industrial emitters from across Europe to transport captured CO₂ to Norway for permanent storage.
“Longship is meant to be a case study – a project to showcase the feasibility of a multi-user injection hub,” Tore said.
“As part of the project, CO₂ is required to be transported across national boundaries. Norway has signed agreements with a number of countries for this purpose, including Sweden, Denmark, and Holland.”
The concept of a shared carbon storage hub spanning multiple nations reflects a broader ambition: demonstrating that CCS can operate as a collaborative international network rather than a series of isolated projects.
The situation in Australia
Australia has its own CCS infrastructure. One of the country’s most significant initiatives is the Moomba CCS project, located at the Moomba gas plant in South Australia. The project captures carbon dioxide produced during gas processing and prepares it for long-term storage.
At Moomba, captured CO₂ is processed to remove water before being compressed into liquid form. It is then transported about 50km via pipeline to a storage site, where it is injected into depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs for permanent storage underground.
The project has been designed to store up to 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year – roughly equivalent to removing about 700,000 petrol cars from the road annually. In October 2024, Santos confirmed the Moomba CCS project had become operational and had begun capturing, injecting and storing CO₂ in the Cooper Basin following commissioning and ramp-up activities.
Chevron’s Gorgon carbon dioxide injection project is the other major CCS development in Australia. The project supports the development of gas fields in the greater gorgon area off the north-west coast of Western Australia.
With a projected lifespan of more than 40 years, the injection system is expected to be among the world’s largest long-term carbon dioxide storage operations. The Chevron-led Gorgon Joint Venture plans to inject between 3.3 and 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually into the Dupuy Formation, a geological layer located more than 2km beneath Barrow Island. Since injection began in early August 2019, more than 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have already been stored.
Both companies have committed to sharing the lessons learned while developing their respective CCS systems in order to support broader deployment of the technology in Australia. Additional projects are also being explored across the country as interest in CCS continues to grow.
Norway’s Longship project ultimately demonstrates what is possible when large-scale collaboration, government support and clear public communication align behind a shared climate objective. As Australia continues developing its own CCS capabilities, Longship stands as an example of how an integrated, multi-user carbon capture network could take shape.
