NYK Takes 30% Stake in Norwegian CO₂ Venture Trudvang

In an announcement made on September 29, 2026, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) said it would move beyond its traditional shipping remit by taking an equity position in a European carbon capture and storage venture.

The company has signed a sale and purchase agreement with Vår Energi CCS AS under which it will acquire a 30% interest in Trudvang CCS ANS, the operator of Norway's Trudvang CCS project, together with a matching 30% interest in the CO₂ storage exploration license EXL007.

The acquisition will be executed through a wholly owned subsidiary that NYK intends to establish in Norway. Under the agreement, that subsidiary will purchase from Vår Energi a 30% partnership interest in Trudvang CCS ANS and a corresponding 30% participating interest in EXL007, placing NYK alongside the existing license holders as a project partner. The transfer has not yet closed: completion remains conditional on regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Inside the Trudvang Project

Trudvang CCS is being developed under license EXL007, a CO₂ storage exploration license covering a designated area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The license was awarded by the Norwegian Ministry of Energy and grants its holders exclusive rights to carry out exploration activities within the license area for the purpose of assessing the site's suitability for geological CO₂ storage.

The ambition is a full transport and storage business: CO₂ captured from industrial emitters across Europe would be brought to Norway for injection and permanent storage in an offshore geological formation. Technical and commercial studies are currently in progress as the partners work toward commercialization. Vår Energi CCS AS operates the project, with INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS taking part as a partner, and the scope of the business spans CO₂ transport, injection, and storage.

The offshore concept calls for CO₂ to be carried by a liquefied CO₂ (LCO₂) vessel fitted with a dynamic positioning system, then injected directly into subsea storage formations via an offshore receiving and injection facility. A dynamic positioning system works by automatically calculating external forces acting on a vessel, wind and currents among them, and deploying thrusters and other propulsion equipment to hold the ship on station.

Extending Reach Beyond Marine Transportation

For NYK, the deal represents a deliberate widening of its footprint within the carbon capture and storage value chain. The group has already been developing liquefied CO₂ transportation through Knutsen NYK Carbon Carriers AS (KNCC), a joint venture established on a 50:50 basis with the Knutsen Group. At the same time, it has been scouting opportunities in neighboring segments of the chain — marine transportation, offshore handling and injection, and geological storage.

Taking a stake in Trudvang is intended to let the NYK Group build capabilities that reach beyond moving CO₂ by sea. By participating in a European CCS project still under development, the company aims to gather hands-on knowledge of project development and of the technical and commercial dimensions of the transport and storage business.

NYK frames the value chain itself as central to the sector's success. In its view, a key factor in whether CCS projects succeed is the creation of an integrated chain connecting industrial emitters that capture CO₂ with the infrastructure needed to transport, inject, and permanently store it. Carbon dioxide capture and storage, the technology behind the acronym CCS, captures CO₂ from sources such as thermal power plants and industrial facilities and places it in stable underground geological formations.

Where the capture site sits far from the utilization or storage destination, dedicated LCO₂ carriers can be employed to bridge the distance. The group plans to draw on expertise built up in its marine transportation and offshore businesses, areas that include exploration and drilling, refining, liquefaction, and storage, to deepen its engagement in transport and storage through the Trudvang project, covering offshore handling as well as injection and storage.

Rooted in the Medium-Term Management Plan

The investment sits within a strategic framework NYK laid out earlier: the medium-term management plan titled "Sail Green, Drive Transformations 2026. A Passion for Planetary Wellbeing," published on March 10, 2023.

That plan commits the group to growth strategies with sustainability at their core, grounded in a corporate mission of "Bringing value to life" and a vision for 2030 stating that "we go beyond the scope of a comprehensive global logistics enterprise to co-create value required for the future by advancing our core business and growing new ones."

Through its participation in Trudvang, NYK says it will work to lay down a business foundation in the CCS sector, generate new value that crosses the traditional boundaries separating shipping and offshore activities, and play a part in building a decarbonized society.