Economic outlook, CCUS, and hockey

On March 4, ETN members gathered at DNB Arena in Stavanger for an evening that combined industry insights, project presentations, and informal networking.

Hosted in collaboration with DNB, the evening opened with Helge Hamre giving members a read on the current economic landscape. The backdrop is one of uncertainty: geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and cautious capital markets are all shaping the conditions under which the energy transition must happen. For Norway, the outlook remains relatively stable — but the transition is unfolding in a more complex and constrained environment than many had anticipated, making smart, practical solutions all the more important.

That context set the stage well for the industry presentations, which focused on decarbonising maritime transport - one of the harder sectors to abate.

Magnus Møkster from Møkster Shipping presented the company's work on onboard carbon capture for offshore supply vessels. Rather than waiting for zero-emission fuels to become widely available, Møkster is exploring retrofit carbon capture technology that can be applied to the existing fleet - potentially reducing emissions by up to 70% per vessel. The key remaining challenge is developing the full value chain for the captured CO₂ once it leaves the ship.

Hy2gen Nordic, represented by Steinar Madsen, offered a picture of what that value chain could look like. The company produces hydrogen and synthetic fuels, and their work points to a circular model where CO₂ captured onboard vessels is brought ashore and used to produce synthetic LNG — a fuel compatible with existing engines. One vessel with carbon capture could generate enough CO₂ to support several additional vessels in meeting their emissions requirements.

Both projects have recently been presented to ETN's Technical Committee, where major energy companies evaluate emerging technologies and decide whether to commit resources to co-develop them as cluster projects.  

After the formal programme, members joined for dinner before moving to the lounge for the evening's ice hockey match — an informal setting that, as always, offered its own kind of value for those looking to continue the conversations started earlier.