INTERTANKO hosts Brussels event on LCO2 carriage

10 March 2025

INTERTANKO hosted an event at Residence Palace, Brussels, to highlight the readiness of tanker shipping to support the EU’s decarbonisation objectives in relation to the shipment of LCO2 on 27 February.

The event was opened by Oana Langa (Policy Officer, European Commission, DG Energy Unit C.2 – Decarbonisation and Sustainability of Energy Sources) who provided a status report on the European legislative landscape.

The Commission’s objective is to balance the EU’s carbon neutrality objective with industry competitiveness. The Industrial Carbon Management Strategy published in February last year is meant to contribute to that, setting out a vision on how the EU is going to reach the CO2 injection capacity target introduced by the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). It focuses on three “pathways” (carbon storage, utilisation and removals) which need to be brought to commercial scale, underlining that CCS is instrumental to industrial decarbonisation.

Langa stressed the importance of the CCS Directive, which establishes a legal framework for the safe and responsible development and operation of CO2 storage in the EU, and explained that infrastructure development aspects are covered by the EU Regulations on Trans-European Energy and Transport Networks – TEN-E and TEN-T, respectively.

In last year’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, the European Commission promised to come forward with a set of rules for CO2 transport infrastructure and emphasised that CO2 transport will certainly be multimodal (relying on pipelines, but also ships and other modes). The Commission’s proposals are expected alongside the next review of the EU ETS in Q1/Q2 next year. Langa explained that future CO2 transport rules will address the issue of interoperability of infrastructure/transport modes, CO2 streams quality standards, third-party access, potential conflicts of interest along the value chain, governance and other important aspects. The Commission’s objective will be to allow for new business models to emerge, by striking a balance between providing regulatory certainty and allowing for a certain level of flexibility.

The European Commission is very much willing to learn from the industry and open to technical input, she told the audience, adding that “this is the beginning of a dialogue” and underlining that they need input from the industry, including from the shipping industry.

Evangelos Tzitzis (Gas Manager at INTERTANKO) outlined INTERTANKO’s decarbonisation strategy and how transportation of LCO2 is part of it. He explained that the choice between offshore pipeline and shipping is quite case specific and requires a modification of the optimisation model since investment costs would always favour shipping. He also highlighted the fact that pipelines and shipping in LCO2 transportation are inextricably interwoven, and both modes of transport may cover one another in providing the safe and effective transfer of LCO2. 

Panos Deligiannis (Head of Shipping at ECOLOG) then delivered a comprehensive and technical presentation highlighting the critical role of shipping to “glue together” the different elements of the value chain, arguing that shipping has so far been overlooked in discussions over CO2 transport. Shipping will play a crucial role for the development of the CCS market as an intermediate solution for many players in Europe, he said, pointing out that more than 50 ships are predicted to be required in the EU by 2030. Deligiannis touched on issues including costs, CO2 as a (challenging) cargo, the different types of ship and tank designs for that purpose, and standardisation needs. He called on the EU to allow for CO2 transportation outside the EU/EEA area, notably considering the vast CO2 storage potential of some third countries.

During the Q&A session, representatives from the Commission highlighted the fact that whilst the CCS Directive is key, there are also important elements in the EU ETS Directive. The Monitoring and Reporting Regulation (MRR – secondary legislation under the EU ETS), which was reviewed in summer 2024, now refers to CO2 transport using “a variety of modes” (as opposed to CO2 transport “by pipeline”, in the previous version) and to the NZIA definition of ‘CO2 transport infrastructure’ –which specifically mentions ships. The Commission officials stressed there was scope for the tanker sector to be more involved in how that is transposed/implemented in(to) national legislation in the EU Member States. Miltos Zisis (Managing Director, Capital Gas Ship Management) and Hina Qureshi (Commercial Manager, Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Ltd.) were actively involved in these discussions.

Summing up, Langa made clear that the European Commission welcomed the discussion initiated by INTERTANKO and its Members, saying “your business really touches upon exactly what we do”.

Source: ADS Insight

Contact: Evangelos Tzitzis

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