Wintershall acquires 10% stake in UK Poseidon CCS project

Wintershall Dea has entered a second carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the United Kingdom, joining the Perenco-operated Poseidon CCS project after acquiring a 10% stake in the license from Carbon Catalyst Ltd.

The license was awarded to Perenco and Carbon Catalyst as part of the UK’s first CO₂ storage licensing round (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2023).

The project, which has the potential to significantly decarbonize East Anglia, Greater London, and the wider southeast UK, is due to come online by 2029. Initial CO₂ injection rates will be about 1.5 million tonnes/year (tpy), ramping up to 10 million tpy by 2030, and peaking at 40 million tpy by 2040.

The carbon storage license lies in the UK Southern North Sea, about 65 km off the coast from Bacton in the county of Norfolk. It covers the geological structures of Leman gas field and offers a combination of depleted reservoirs and saline aquifers suitable for safe and permanent carbon storage, Wintershall said.

The field is connected to the Perenco-operated Bacton Gas Terminal, which will receive and process CO₂ offshore.

A final investment decision for the project is expected in 2026.

Offshore CCS licenses 

In total, Wintershall Dea has stakes in five offshore CCS licenses in three North Sea countries, including the Greensands CCS project in the Danish North Sea where earlier this year the first cross-border CO₂ injectivity test was performed (OGJ Online, Feb. 20, 2023). The project aims to store up to 1.5 million tpy of CO₂ in 2025-26, and as much as 8 million tpy by 2030.

Poseidon is the second UK CCS project for Wintershall, following the Synergia Energy-operated Camelot license award where annual CO₂ storage potential is estimated to be up to 6 million tonnes (OGJ Online, Aug. 15, 2023).