MOL Signs Long-Term Charter Contracts for Two New Liquefied CO₂ Carriers for Northern Lights
- Participating in the World's First Cross-Border CO₂ Transport and Storage Project -

January 30, 2026

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto, Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) has been selected by Northern Lights JV DA (hereinafter "Northern Lights,")^(Note1), which operates the world's first cross-border CO₂ transport and storage project, as the owner of two newly built 12,000m³ Ice Class LNG dual-fuel liquefied CO₂ carriers for its business expansion.
On January 29, MOL concluded shipbuilding contracts with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. and long-term charter contracts with Northern Lights. Starting around 2028, the vessels will transport CO₂ collected across Europe to a receiving terminal in Norway.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) solution, which separates and captures CO₂ and stores it stably deep underground, is an important pathway to realize decarbonized society. Liquefied CO₂ shipping plays a critical role in efficiently connecting capture sites with storage sites in the CCS value chain.
Northern Lights transports CO₂ collected across Europe by ship to the Øygarden terminal on Norway's west coast, from where the CO₂ is exported via a 100-kilometer subsea pipeline and permanently stored about 2,600 meters beneath the seabed of the North Sea. This is the world's first cross-border CO₂ transport and storage project. Northern Lights began full-scale operations in 2025, with a transport and storage capacity of 1.5 million tons of CO₂ per year and plans to expand its capacity to a minimum of 5 million tons annually by 2028.

In hard-to-abate industrial sectors, the volume of CO₂ captured, transported by ship, and stored is expected to increase significantly. With a proven global share and track record in liquefied gas shipping, particularly in LNG carriers, MOL group continues to strengthen its capabilities in liquefied CO₂ shipping. In 2021, MOL invested in Larvik Shipping AS^(Note2), a Norwegian ship management company with over 35 years of experience in liquefied CO₂ shipping in Europe and have continued to actively engage in this business. MOL is committed to meeting the growing demand for liquefied CO₂ shipping and contributing to the development of the CCS value chain as a trusted partner.

MOL Group's vision is to take on evolving social needs-such as environmental conservation-through technological and service innovation, while developing various social infrastructure businesses in addition to shipping. This initiative aligns with our group vision and with one of the strategies in "MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2": expanding low-carbon and decarbonization business by leveraging the Group's collective strengths. MOL Group strives for sustainable growth of people's lives, society, and the planet, opening the way to a prosperous future from the blue ocean.

(Note1) Northern Lights JV DA is a registered, incorporated General Partnership with Shared Liability (DA) owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell. For more information, visit https://norlights.com/

(Note2) For details, see MOL's press release issued March 19, 2021: MOL to Move into Ocean Shipping of Liquefied CO₂ Ocean Transport Business through Investment in Norway's Larvik Shipping AS | Mitsui O.S.K. Lines

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MOL Group 5 Sustainability Issues
MOL Group identifies "Sustainability Issues" (Materiality) as our key issues for sustainable growth with society through realization of the Group Vision.
We anticipate this initiative to contribute especially to the realization of "Safety & Value -Provide added value through safe transportation and our social infrastructure business-", "Environment -Conservation for Marine and global environment-" and "Innovation -Innovation for development in marine technology-."