Air Liquide and Sogestran have signed an agreement to form a joint venture[1]. It will provide large-scale liquid CO2 shipping and barging solutions tailored to the needs of future Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in Europe. This joint venture will strengthen Air Liquide’s offering on the carbon management value chain, including capture, aggregation, processing, and transport to permanent storage locations.
CCS represents one of the fundamental tools in the decarbonization process in particular for the most carbon-intensive industrial sectors. In this context, shipping will be essential to transport CO2 from industrial plants with major CO2 emissions, where carbon is captured, to sequestration sites, where it will be permanently stored.
Combining Air Liquide’s expertise in CO2 with Sogestran’s experience in high value-added transportation of goods, the joint venture will transport CO2 in its liquid form thanks to newly-designed shipping and barging solutions, invested and operated through this collaboration.
Emilie Mouren-Renouard, member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, supervising Innovation and Development, said:
“We are pleased to partner with Sogestran to offer innovative solutions in the new market of large volume CO2 transportation. This initiative complements our carbon management technologies to support our industrial customers in their decarbonization strategies and illustrates Air Liquide's commitment to actively contribute to the emergence of a low carbon society.”
Pascal Girardet, Sogestran’s CEO, said: “Air Liquide and Sogestran have built a strong relationship over the past years, working on reliable solutions for this emerging market, in line with our corporate strategy based on innovation. Our teams have worked hand-in-hand to design ships and barges able to safely and efficiently transport liquid CO2. This joint venture will be in a great position to offer the market solutions that will make a significant positive impact on the environment.”
[1] The creation of the joint venture is subject to clearance by the relevant antitrust competition authorities and is expected to be completed by mid-2022