Studies on transporting carbon dioxide through new or repurposed offshore pipelines - July 2026

On 30 July 2026 two NSTA-commissioned studies were published on the challenges posed by transporting carbon dioxide through offshore pipelines. 

Penspen’s report looks into the properties of new-build pipelines. The wide-ranging study looks at topics including contaminant management, fracture control, long-distance subsea tiebacks, metering, and flow modelling and concludes that there are no significant hardware blockers. There is however limited whole system experience of large-scale offshore CO₂ pipelines around the world. 

The second report, produced by DNV, looks at the potential repurposing of existing offshore hydrocarbon pipelines and associated equipment for CO₂ transportation. It focuses on what factors must be taken into account when considering the case for repurposing and includes a methodology for repurposing evaluations and two case studies to illustrate its application.  

These freely available reports are intended to help licensees, potential licensees and the supply chain, as well as existing and future developers, assess the potential for repurposing existing pipelines and installing new infrastructure.