20 March 2026

‘Golden weld’ connects Shell’s CO₂ capture plant to Porthos

This week, the first customer connection to the Porthos collective pipeline was completed at the Blankenburg connection station. The so-called ‘golden welds’ – on the pipeline belonging to OCAP (a subsidiary of Linde Gas) and the Porthos pipeline – mark the connection between the Shell refinery and the Porthos infrastructure. This connection marks an important milestone in the construction of the CO₂ infrastructure in the Rotterdam port area.

The OCAP pipeline is connected to the Porthos main pipeline via a system of valves. The pipeline currently still contains nitrogen. This is used to preserve the pipeline until CO₂ can be supplied. As soon as the first CO₂ is supplied to the Porthos pipeline, the CO₂ will safely displace the nitrogen from the pipeline. Thereafter, further transport to the compressor station on the Maasvlakte can commence.

With this first customer connection, Porthos is taking an essential step towards making the CO₂ transport infrastructure operational and enabling large-scale CO₂ capture and storage in the Netherlands. The Air Liquide customer connection is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year, followed by those of Air Products and ExxonMobil later in the year.