Pipelines

Provisional offshore contracts awarded for North Sea Teesside CO2 development

March 15, 2024

The Northern Endurance Partnership and Net Zero Teesside Power joint venture have awarded Saipem a letter of intent for offshore construction operations in the southern UK North Sea.

The Northern Endurance Partnership says it enables Net Zero Teesside and the East Coast Cluster by providing the common infrastructure needed to transport CO2 from emitters in the Humber and Teesside to secure offshore storage in the North Sea.

Offshore staff

MILAN, Italy — The Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) joint venture have awarded Saipem a letter of intent for offshore construction operations in the southern UK North Sea.

Partners in NEP are operator bp, Equinor and TotalEnergies, while NZT Power is a joint venture between bp and Equinor. The two projects involve the development of CO₂ offshore transportation and storage facilities to the East Coast Cluster in Teesside, northeast England.

Saipem expects to confirm formal award of the contract by September, following regulatory approvals and FIDs.

Its EPCI work scopes cover installation of a 145-km-long, 28-inch pipeline and associated landfalls and onshore outlet facilities for the NEP project, and the water outfall for the Net Zero Teesside Power project.

Castorone's pipelaying capacity features triple joint 12 M or double joint 18 M as well as pipe size up to 48'' (60'' including coating).

Castorone will install the main part of the offshore pipeline, with the Castoro 10 vessel handling shallow-water nearshore operations.

The two projects are designed to transport and store in offshore reservoirs about 4 MM metric tons/year of CO₂ from 2027. NZT Power's work scope involves construction of a gas-fired power station with carbon capture capability.

Liberty Steel’s Hartlepool pipes division will supply onshore and offshore linepipe to the two developments, again pending approvals, and expects to start manufacture in first-quarter 2025. Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars Europe, Corinth Pipeworks and Eisenbau Kramer are the other nominated offshore/onshore pipe mills.

Last year Liberty also completed a trial concerning pipelines for transportation and storage of hydrogen.

Under further contracts awarded by NEP, TechnipFMC will be responsible for the all-electric subsea injection system, using its integrated EPCI delivery model to deliver this project. The system will collect and inject the pressurized gas into an aquifer for permanent storage. The scope of supply includes manifolds, umbilicals and pipe.

According to TechnipFMC, an all-electric system simplifies the overall design, allowing a reduction in infrastructure and installation time through removing hydraulic components and simplified umbilicals. The technology also enables longer developments.

Genesis is responsible for overall offshore systems engineering, Wood for integrated project management, and Alcatel Submarine Networks for the power and communications cable.

A consortium between Technip Energies and GE Vernova will take charge of onshore power, capture and compression, with Balfour Beatty as the construction partner and Shell as the technology licensor. Costain’s scope covers the onshore CO₂ gathering system and gas connection.

03.15.2024