NSTA green lights North Sea Orion carbon capture project

Offshore staff

LONDON — Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has awarded Perenco and partner Carbon Catalyst two licenses to progress their Orion carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the UK southern North Sea.

This covers the decommissioned Amethyst gas field and the producing West Sole Field, both offshore eastern England. Orion is designed to achieve an initial CO₂ injection capacity of 1 MM metric tons per year, starting in 2031, eventually rising to 6 MMt per year.

It will employ the two fields’ depleted gas reservoirs for permanent storage of CO₂ within geological formations.

Perenco owns and operates gas infrastructure onshore in the Humberside area, including the Dimlington gas reception terminal, and will assess the potential for using facilities such as pipelines to support the project.

Orion could complement other CCS schemes in the region that are presently under development, providing added capacity for decarbonization of heavy industry in Humberside and adjacent areas over a 30-year period.

Perenco UK and CCL have also committed to progress their Poseidon CCS project, encompassing the nearby offshore Leman gas fields, and are targeting startup by 2029 with initial CO₂ injection rates of about 1.5 MMt per year, building over time to 40 MMt per year.

08.17.2023