Equinor’s appetite for low-carbon projects has been dwindling for some time, but the Norwegian energy firm has raised eyebrows with recent decisions to axe its largest European blue hydrogen project and to pause all new investments in CCS.

The H2M Eemshaven blue hydrogen project in the northeast of the Netherlands, which Equinor has been developing with German industrial gases form Linde, had not reached FID but had been expected to make a sizeable contribution to the EU’s 2030 clean hydrogen production target.

The plan had been to start production in 2028 at a rate of 210,000t/yr. Demand for the hydrogen was expected to come from industrial sectors including steel, chemicals and power generation. That demand has not materialised, leading Equinor to halt the project in recent weeks.

 “A couple of years ago we actually had heads of terms contracts with hydrogen customers. Those have now been cancelled,” said CEO Anders Opedal, as he confirmed the halt to H2M Eemshaven during the firm’s latest earnings call with analysts in early February.

A spokesperson also cited “policy uncertainty and lack of funding” as factors in the decision to axe H2M Eemshaven.

The removal of Eemshaven from the latest organic capex forecast has contributed to an overall $4b reduction in Equinor’s guidance for 2026–27. Reduced spending on offshore wind and CCS has also contributed to the reduction.

Equinor was keen to stress that this is not the end for its hydrogen ambitions and that it has other projects under development. “Equinor is committed to working with partners, governments and stakeholders across Europe to advance low-carbon hydrogen solutions where policy frameworks and demand are most robust,” a spokesperson said.

However, it is difficult to see demand picking up sufficiently in the near-to-medium term to convince Opedal to divert capex back to hydrogen from the Norwegian and international oil and gas businesses, where his priorities clearly lie.

Equinor’s capex for low-carbon projects has been cut consistently over the last couple of years, but the latest reduction appears to signal a more decisive move. The firm is not alone among oil and gas firms in scaling back on low carbon. However, the pace of its retreat contrasts sharply with the narrative it was pushing a few years ago, when it boasted of its ability to turn its low-carbon business into a major differentiator versus its peers.

Opedal linked the slowdown in low-carbon sectors, and the lack of near-term demand for hydrogen and CCS, to a recent shift in companies’ emission reduction horizons. The previous target date of 2030 for emission reductions has been effectively abandoned in some cases, with emitters looking to achieve cuts later in the next decade.

CCS on pause

The shelving of H2M Eemshaven will have implications for Equinor’s CCS plans. CO₂ from the plant would have been pumped offshore into permanent storage, providing some useful anchor demand for the firm’s carbon management business.

Opedal insisted that Equinor still aims to be a leading provider of CO₂ transportation and storage, a business it has been involved in since the mid-1990s via the North Sea Sleipner Vest. More recently, the Northern Lights project in the North Sea, in which Equinor has invested alongside Shell and TotalEnergies, started CO₂ injections in mid-2025, marking its arrival as the world’s operating third-party CO₂ transport and storage facility. The three firms have also agreed to back a second phase, which would potentially raise CO₂ injection capacity to at least 5mt/yr, from 1.5mt/yr in the first phase.

In the UK, Equinor is invested in the Noth Endurance Partnership, a major CO₂ storage project, together with TotalEnergies and BP.

However, additions to Equinor’s CCS portfolio look some way off.  Opedal made it clear that no more capex would flow into the CCS business “due to market conditions”. He said he would need to see lower costs and firm demand from emitters, in the form of long-term contracts, before revisiting that decision.