Norway and France establish arrangement on cross border CO2 transport and storage

‘This arrangement is a breakthrough for European climate cooperation. It demonstrates how we can work together to find practical solutions for cutting emissions and securing the future of industry in a low-carbon society’, said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.

Strengthening Bilateral Cooperation

The arrangement was signed in Oslo on 23 June 2025 by Minister Aasland and France’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Éric Lombard. It enables transport of CO₂ from French industrial hubs such as Le Havre, Dunkirk, and Saint-Nazaire to storage sites on the Norwegian continental shelf. The arrangement complies with the London Protocol and EU law on carbon storage and emissions trading (ETS).

France has recently passed the necessary legislative amendments in its National Assembly to enable cross-border transport of CO₂, underlining its importance as a priority for President Emmanuel Macron. The arrangement also builds on the 2022 Letter of Intent between the two countries and forms part of their broader green industrial partnership.

The written arrangement is available in English and French:

• Administrative arrangement between the Minister of Energy of Norway and the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital sovereignty of the French Republic on cross-border transportation of CO₂ with the purpose of permanent geological storage (English version)
• Arrangement administratif entre le ministre de l'energie de la Norvège et le ministre de l'économie, des finances et de la souveraineté industrielle et numérique de la République Française sur le transport transfrontalier de CO₂ à des fins de stockage géologique permanent (French version)

Boosting the European CCS Market

The arrangement facilitates the handling of French emissions through permanent offshore storage in the North Sea and supports the development of an integrated European market for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The agreement provides predictability for further expansion of storage capacity on the Norwegian shelf.

Background

To date, the Ministry of Energy has awarded 12 explorations licenses and one exploitation license (held by Northern Lights) for CO₂ storage on the Norwegian continental shelf. One additional exploration license has also been offered. Realization of these projects gives opportunities for large CO₂ emitters to invest in carbon management.

The Longship project, launched on 21 September 2020, is the Norwegian government’s key initiative for carbon management. It demonstrates how CO₂ can be captured from industrial sources, transported, and safely stored beneath the seabed. CO₂ is captured at Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik and Hafslund Celsio’s waste-to-energy facility in Oslo.

Once captured, the CO₂ is liquefied and transported by purpose-built ships to the Northern Lights facility in Øygarden, near Bergen. There, it is injected and permanently stored 2,600 meters below the seabed in the North Sea. Northern Lights JV DA—a joint venture between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies—is responsible for the transport and storage operations.

Longship is now in operation, with the first shipment of CO₂ transported from Brevik to Øygarden in June 2025. Injection into the subsea reservoirs is scheduled to begin in August 2025. In its first phase, Northern Lights has the capacity to store 1.5 million tons of CO₂ annually. The Ministry has approved the development plan for phase two, which will increase capacity to over 5 million tons per year.