The port operator and Norwegian carbon aggregator have signed a non-binding agreement to develop shared CO2 receiving hubs, cutting the cost of moving captured emissions from heavy industry to North Sea storage.
Euroports and Normod Carbon have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to develop shared CO2 receiving hubs across Euroports’ European terminal network. The companies announced the agreement on 21 July, describing it as a framework to lower the cost of moving captured carbon from industrial emitters to permanent storage.
The deal gives both firms a basis to assess the technical, commercial and market feasibility of building and operating intermediate CO2 hubs. These hubs would receive captured carbon at port terminals, hold it, then send it on to permanent storage. The plan would connect industrial emitters across Northern and Western Europe with offshore and onshore reservoirs.
Each company brings a different part of the chain. Euroports has a footprint of terminal facilities, deepwater access and port logistics across Europe. Normod Carbon runs open-access CO2 logistics networks, including buffer storage, shuttle tankers and aggregation facilities. Together they would handle the middle leg between a captured tonne of CO2 and its final geological store.
The logic rests on cost. As decarbonisation mandates tighten across Europe, port operators are taking on a new job as consolidation points for captured emissions before those volumes are shipped out. Much of that carbon is bound for permanent storage under the North Sea. Aggregating volumes at a shared hub spreads the fixed cost of transport and storage across many emitters, which lowers the price each one pays.
That matters most for the hard-to-abate sectors. Steel, cement, chemicals and refining plants often sit inland or in clusters with no direct pipeline to a storage site. For them, shipping captured CO2 through a port hub is one of the few routes to compliance as carbon prices rise. Shared infrastructure of the kind Euroports and Normod Carbon are studying would give those emitters an off-take option they cannot build alone.
Philip Berckmans, Group Commercial Director at Euroports, said the energy transition is changing the strategic role of port infrastructure. He said port terminals will act as conduits for carbon management alongside renewable energy and circular economy supply chains.
Jan Lien, CEO of Normod Carbon, said accessible carbon logistics depend on shared infrastructure and terminal partnerships. “Euroports’ extensive terminal network and operational expertise make them a natural partner as we explore opportunities to establish a network of efficient CO2 hub solutions that can accelerate CCS deployment across Northern Europe,” he said.
The agreement is non-binding, and no sites or volumes have been fixed. It is a first step toward possible joint investment, with both firms now evaluating target locations and commercial off-take opportunities across Euroports’ European network. Any build-out would follow separate investment decisions.
For industrial emitters watching the cost of carbon capture and storage, the signal is that port-based hubs are moving from concept to commercial study. If Euroports and Normod Carbon proceed, the result would be more places on the European coast where a captured tonne can be handed off, priced and shipped to the North Sea.
