Offshore staff
LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has awarded two carbon storage licenses in the southern North Sea to bp and Equinor, with an eight-year appraisal term.
Under the terms of the agreed work programs, the licenses must demonstrate progress in achieving certain milestones, such as acquiring seismic surveys over the four proposed storage sites, and drilling wells to acquire data before applying for a storage permit.
The four (separate) storage sites are 70 km (43 miles) off the coast of Humberside, eastern England. These, combined with an existing license granted for the Endurance carbon store, could eventually contribute to the storage of up to 23 Mtpa of CO2 about 1,400 m (4,593 ft) beneath the seabed.
The U.K. government’s target for carbon capture, usage and storage is 20 Mtpa to 30 Mtpa by 2030, and more than 50 Mtpa by 2035.
NSTA is stewarding six carbon storage licenses on the U.K. Continental Shelf, having awarded five since 2018 and agreed a transfer of a sixth.
Studies to date suggest injection from a carbon storage project could start in 2025, based on progress at the projects HyNet, the Northern Endurance Partnership’s East Coast Cluster and the V Net Zero Humber Cluster.
The Humber, Teesside and East Coast Cluster represent almost 50% of the U.K.’s industrial cluster CO2 emissions.
“This is another important milestone for the East Coast Cluster, which will capture and safely store CO2 emissions from a wide range of industrial and power projects," said Andy Lane, managing director with Northern Endurance Partnership.
05.12.2022
