ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with international energy firm Equinor to develop value chains in carbon capture and storage.

Equinor is a partner in the Northern Lights project, together with partners Shell and Total, which includes transport, reception and permanent storage of CO2 in a reservoir in the northern part of the North Sea.

ArcelorMittal committed to the project with Equinor at a ceremony in Oslo, where the European Commission is hosting a High-Level Conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) together with the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Memorandums of understanding have been signed between Equinor and ArcelorMittal, as well as Air Liquide, Ervia, Fortum Oyj, HeidelbergCement AG, Preem, and Stockholm Exergi.

As part of the project, ArcelorMittal – which has an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050 within Europe - has committed to a number of joint activities including the development of logistics, exploring potential commercial models, and advocating on the topic of carbon capture and use (CCU) and CCS, as an important part of the successful decarbonisation of European industry. The company’s primary role will be the capture of CO2 gas from its blast furnaces.

At the end of 2019, the partnership plans to drill a wildcat well for CO2 storage in the Johanson formation covered by the Aurora licence (EL001) to study the reservoir’s suitability and capacity for CO2 storage.

Final commercial agreements will depend on positive investment decisions for the Northern Lights project, the Norwegian State’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project and for third-party projects, with possible investment decisions to be made in 2020.