Oil and gas operators selected to test North Sea licenses for carbon storage potential
The UK North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) on Sept. 15 listed companies accepting licenses following the UK’s first-ever carbon storage licensing round. A total of 21 licenses will be shared by a total of 14 companies.
The licenses are in depleted oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers which cover about 12,000 sq km, and could store up to 30 million tpy of CO2 by 2030, about 10% of UK annual emissions which were 341.5 million tonnes in 2021, NSTA said in a release Sept. 15.
Shell, Perenco and ENI have all been awarded licenses off the coast of Norfolk in sites which could form part of the Bacton Energy Hub—a carbon storage, hydrogen, and offshore wind project, which could provide low-carbon energy for London and the South East for decades to come, NTSA said.
Other locations include sites off the coasts of Aberdeen, Teesside, and Liverpool.
Carbon storage licenses accepted
Shell plc subsidiary Shell UK Ltd. was awarded three licenses. The operator will partner with ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production UK Ltd. to test for carbon storage potential.
The licenses are in areas ExxonMobil knows and understands well, where Esso has developed oil and gas resources for decades, the company said in a separate release Sept. 15.
If the assessments are successful, the partners plan to apply for UK government permission to develop and operate carbon storage projects, which would support the UK’s ambition to store more than 50 million tonnes/year (tpy) of carbon by 2050, ExxonMobil said.
Eni’s award, for the depleted Hewett gas field sited 20 km offshore from Bacton, has total storage capacity of around 300 million tonnes, and development could include reuse of associated infrastructure, the company said in its own release Sept. 15. The license follows one obtained in the Liverpool Bay Area in 2020, where Eni is the carbon dioxide transport and storage operator for the HyNet North West project.
