Microsoft, Northern Lights JV, SLB Sign MoU to Digitalize CCS Chain

SLB and the Northern Lights joint venture (NL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to optimize the integrated cloud-based workflows for NL’s carbon-capture and storage (CCS) operations. The collaboration will support the development of scalable, cost-efficient digital solutions for the CCS industry.

“Digital workflows are a key component to successfully managing CO₂ through the end-to-end value chain, from capture point to permanent storage,” said Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights. “Northern Lights is pleased to partner with SLB and Microsoft on the development of digital CCS solutions.”

For the initial phases of the partnership, SLB will enhance its digital CCS workflows and numerical simulation systems for the Delfi digital platform. SLB’s Delfi digital platform was deployed to streamline the subsurface workflows of NL in 2022.

Microsoft plans on deploying its Azure platform to guarantee scalable cloud services that support NL’s business and the SLB digital CCS workflows. Microsoft and SLB are cooperating on the development of an Azure-compliant open-source data platform to serve as the digital infrastructure for NL.

“In less than three decades, CCS must scale up by 100–200 times to have the expected impact on global net zero ambitions,” said Trygve Randen, Senior Vice President of Digital Products and Solutions, SLB. “Digital solutions have a key role to play in enabling the necessary speed and scale for CCS, and we are excited to work closely with Microsoft and the Northern Lights JV to facilitate the complex digitalization of the CCS value chain.”

The NL joint venture was formed by Equinor, TotalEnergies, and Shell to advance the decarbonization of industry. NL’s transport and storage facilities will be prepared to receive and store CO₂ from industrial emitters in 2024. The first phase of development has a storage capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of CO₂ per year, and NL has entered into commercial transport and storage agreements with Yara and Ørsted.

“Microsoft is thrilled to partner closely with SLB and Northern Lights to drive tangible CO₂ reductions at scale in 2024 and beyond,” said Sverre Brandsberg Dahl, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Energy and Resources Industry. “We are confident this lighthouse project can help accelerate the CCS industry and the digital infrastructure that is needed to reach global climate goals.”