Mediterranean carbon capture and storage close to start of operations

While Prinos leads in the east, southern Europe’s broader CCS ambitions coalesce around the Callisto Mediterranean CO2 network, which designates Ravenna as its reference storage hub. At the same conference, Eni’s head of CCS business development, Luca Rossi, described Ravenna CCS as “an infrastructure for gathering multimodal transport offshore and permanently storing CO2 in the depleted gas reservoirs operated by Eni in the Adriatic Sea,” emphasising its role in a region where saline aquifers and hydrocarbon fields are scarce.

Phase 1 of Ravenna began injecting CO2 in August 2024, repurposing existing offshore installations to accelerate delivery. With an overall potential of 500M tonnes and more than 30 non-binding agreements. Totaling 31 mtpa of interest, Ravenna is developing a logistics hub in the industrial area of Ravenna to receive shipments by ship, train and truck, and will vaporise the liquid CO2, and pump it onshore to compression and pipeline facilities.

The Callisto network’s inclusion in the EU’s PCI list makes it eligible for Connecting Europe Facility funding, while Italy’s reforms to permit large-scale storage authorisations and define CO2 transport rules provide a clearer regulatory framework. By 2030, Ravenna CCS phase 2 plans to ramp up to 4 mtpa with future expansions targeting at least 16 mtpa, contributing to the Net‑Zero Industry Act target of 50 mtpa of EU storage capacity.

Between these anchors, ECOLOG’s APOLLOCO2 hub in Greece offers an integrated aggregation model. Jasper Heikens, chief commercial officer, noted in Milan that in Attica — extending from the Saronic Gulf islands to the Parnitha and Pentelicus mountains — “the industrial cluster sits south in Attica, with roughly 10–15 million tonnes of CO2 in that region,” suggesting benefits from a shared terminal.

APOLLOCO2 plans a floating liquefaction and export terminal adjacent to the Revithoussa LNG import site, leveraging existing port infrastructure. A 230 km pipeline network would collect CO2, deliver it to a 30,000 m³ floating liquefier and storage vessel, then dispatch larger carriers to offshore storage sites such as Ravenna or Prinos. The unit’s onboard redundancy and modular liquefaction trains would allow staged expansion without dry-dock delays, while studies into pressure-interface compatibility aim to lower market-entry barriers.

Despite differing national geographies, these projects share common hurdles. The limited number of Mediterranean storage sites forces emitters to choose between distant sinks, potentially creating inequities in allocation and cost. APOLLOCO2 and Prinos both call for EU funding mechanisms to underpin commercial viability. Meanwhile, Callisto’s cross-border mandate demands regulatory alignment across member states to permit CO2 export and maintain emissions accounting within the EEA. Ports must also upgrade facilities — such as jetties capable of handling liquid CO2 carriers and onshore buffer storage tanks — to link capture clusters with maritime routes.

The Northern Lights JV offers a valuable precedent. It announced that the first CO2 volumes have been transported through its 100 km pipeline and injected into the Aurora reservoir, 2,600 m beneath the seabed of the Norwegian North Sea, showing that shipping-led models can synchronise national facilities and deliver reliable sequestration. The venture, owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell, is expanding from 1.5 mtpa to at least 5 mtpa under a Connecting Europe Facility grant, with planned volumes from Denmark and the Netherlands in 2026.

As the Mediterranean strives to emulate this blueprint, co-ordination among EU institutions, national regulators and port authorities will be paramount. The emerging network of Prinos, APOLLOCO2 and Ravenna, supported by Northern Lights’ proven operations, could form the maritime backbone linking hard-to-abate industries with long-term storage solutions. With first injections under way in Norway, followed by Greece and Italy, 2025 may be remembered as the year maritime shipping underpinned regional-scale carbon management.

Riviera’s Tankers 2030 Conference, Singapore will be held 19-20 November 2025. Use this link to register your interest and attend the event.