Norway’s Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies have begun commercial operations at the Northern Lights carbon-capture and storage project, injecting the first volumes of liquefied CO₂ 2,600 metres beneath the North Sea seabed. Delivered by ship from Heidelberg Materials’ cement plant in Brevik and piped 100 kilometres from an onshore terminal at Øygarden, the inaugural load marks the start of what the partners describe as the world’s first open-access CO₂ transport and storage network. Phase 1 of Northern Lights can handle 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ a year and is already fully contracted by emitters in Norway and continental Europe. The facility forms the storage element of Norway’s state-backed Longship programme, which is designed to prove the viability of CCS for hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, steel and chemicals. The joint venture has committed NOK 7.5 billion (about US$740 million) to expand capacity to at least 5 million tonnes annually by 2026 after securing a €131 million grant from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility. Oslo has underwritten roughly 80 percent of Phase 1 costs, while the partners will operate the site and associated shipping fleet. Executives say the start-up demonstrates that carbon capture, transport and storage can be scaled into a standalone industry, although they caution that further public support and cross-border regulation are needed. Equinor aims to develop 30–50 million tonnes of CO₂ storage capacity globally by 2035, positioning Norway as a hub for European industrial decarbonisation.