Horisont Energi, Equinor and Vår Energi have entered into an agreement to collaborate on the development of the carbon transportation and storage project Polaris, off the coast of Northern Norway. As part of the agreement, Equinor will be the operator of the project.

Horisont Energi, Equinor and Vår Energi are collaborating on developing the Polaris carbon storage, which is expected to have a total carbon storage capacity in excess of 100 million tons. This is the equivalent to twice Norway’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. The offshore carbon storage reservoir is a key part of the planned Barents Blue project in Finnmark, which will be Europe’s first world-scale carbon neutral ammonia production plant. Vår Energi, Equinor and Horisont Energi entered a cooperation agreement for the Barents Blue plant in September 2021.

Barents Blue is planned to have a production capacity of 3000 tons of ammonia per day, making it one of the largest ammonia plants in the world. In its first phase, the facility will convert natural gas from the Barents South region to carbon-neutral blue ammonia (99 percent CO2 capture rate), an easily transportable hydrogen carrier, which is planned to be used directly as ammonia, but that also can be converted back to hydrogen at destination. Currently in the concept phase, an investment decision for Polaris and the Barents Blue project is expected around year-end 2022.

Bjørgulf Haukelidsæter Eidesen, CEO of Horisont Energi, said:
"As one of the largest offshore operators in the Barents Sea region, I am extremely pleased that Vår Energi has chosen to partner with us and Equinor on the Polaris project. Polaris has the potential to advance Norway’s position as a leading nation on cost-effective CCS technology, which will be essential to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. By capturing CO2 during the production of ammonia and sequestering it safely under the seabed, we open a new and climate-friendly market for the large amounts of natural gas coming from the existing fields in the Barents Sea."

CCS involves the capturing of emissions from power stations and other industrial sources, or directly from industrial processes like in the Barents Blue ammonia plant. The carbon dioxide is then liquified and transported offshore, where it is pumped into the underground storage. Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) state that it will be more difficult and more costly to reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels without CCS. Technology for CCS will also be critical to achieve carbon negative solutions.

KeyFacts Energy Norway company/country profiles: Equinor   l   Vår Energi Norway country profile