Page 13 - EurOil Week 25 2022

EurOil ENERGY TRANSITION EurOil

UK kicks off first carbon storage round

UK THE UK has kicked off its first-ever carbon mean that they are likely to proceed at different
storage round in a bid to drive reductions in the paces, but first injection of CO2 could come as
UK windfall tax already showing pain: OEUK As many as 100 CO2 industry emissions, with the UK-based North early as four to six years after the licence award,”
Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) inviting last the NSTA said.
stores will be needed
for the UK to meet its
The round will offer up acreage in addition Dutch developments
net zero target. week bids for 13 storage sites.
to the six CO2 storage licences that have been In other carbon storage news, ExxonMobil and
granted on an individual basis, NSTA said. Neptune Energy led a group to sign an agree-
Combined, these licences could store 20-30mn ment to develop a large-scale CCS project in
tonnes of CO2 annually, it said. the Dutch North Sea this week. Other partici-
The licences in question are located off the pants include Rosewood Exploration and EBN
coast of Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lin- Capital.
colnshire in the Southern North Sea, Central The L10 CCS project has the potential to store
North Sea, Northern North Sea and East Irish 4-5mn tonnes per year of CO2, the companies
Sea respectively. They comprise a mix of CO2 said, with a concept selection due this year, ahead
storage opportunities in saline aquifers and of front-end engineering and design (FEED)
depleted oil and gas fields. work starting before year-end. The partners will
“This round is envisaged to be the first of then file for a carbon storage licence.
many, as it is estimated that as many as 100 CO2 The companies are also in exploratory
stores could be required in order to meet the discussions with industrial emitters ahead of
net-zero-by-2050 target,” NSTA said. hopefully securing funds in a Dutch financ-
The main focus for industry decarbonisation ing round. If developed, L10 will be one of the
efforts in the UK are the hubs of Teesside and largest CCS systems in Dutch waters, and meet
Humber. From such sites CO2 be delivered to over half of the country’s CO2 reduction target
offshore storage sites via pipeline. The CO2 will for industry.
typically be stored as depths greater than 800 “This co-operation agreement is a significant
metres, at which depth it behaves no longer as a step in the development of the Neptune-oper-
gas but as a supercritical fluid. ated L10 project which supports our strategy to
The authority says that the level of interest go beyond net zero and store more carbon than
already expressed suggests that there will be is emitted from our operations, scope 1, and
strong competition for the licences. The appli- sold products, scope 3, by 2030,” Lex de Groot,
cation window is 90 days long, closing on Sep- managing director for Neptune in the Nether-
tember 14. Bids will then be evaluated by NSTA lands, commented. “The reuse of our existing
based on technical and financial criteria, and infrastructure means that together, we can help
licence awards are expected to take place in early achieve the climate goals, but also ensure this
2023. part of the energy transition becomes cleaner,
“The size and scale of the licensed stores cheaper and faster.” ™

Week 25 23•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13