Energy companies form CO2 partnership in UK North Sea‎

bp, Eni, Equinor, National Grid, Shell and Total confirmed they have formed ‎a new partnership, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), to develop offshore carbon dioxide ‎(CO2) transport and storage infrastructure in the UK North Sea, with bp as operator.

This ‎infrastructure will serve the proposed Net Zero Teesside (NZT) and Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) ‎projects that aim to establish decarbonized industrial clusters in Teesside and Humberside.‎

NZT and ZCH are at-scale decarbonisation projects that will kick start decarbonization of industry and ‎power in two of the UK’s largest industrial clusters. Both projects aim to be commissioned by 2026 ‎with realistic pathways to achieve net zero as early as 2030 through a combination of carbon capture, ‎hydrogen and fuel-switching. If successful, NEP linked to NZT and ZCH will allow decarbonisation of ‎nearly 50 per cent of the UK’s industrial emissions.‎

NEP has submitted a bid for funding through Phase 2 of the UK government’s Industrial ‎Decarbonisation Challenge, aiming to accelerate the development of an offshore pipeline network to ‎transport captured CO2 emissions from both NZT and ZCH to offshore geological storage beneath the ‎UK North Sea.‎

The £170 million Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge is part of the £4.7 billion Industrial Strategy ‎Challenge Fund set up by the UK government to address the biggest industrial and societal challenges ‎using research and development based in the UK. NEP’s application for funding is an important step ‎towards enabling the development of integrated offshore carbon storage for NZT and ZCH in the UK ‎Southern North Sea.‎

The application follows the approval by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) of the addition of bp and ‎Equinor alongside National Grid to the Endurance carbon storage licence. This affirms the strategic ‎importance of the Endurance reservoir as the most mature large scale saline aquifer for CO2 storage ‎in the offshore UK Continental Shelf, that can enable industrial decarbonisation from both clusters. ‎

bp will lead the Northern Endurance Partnership as operator and the team progressing the project ‎will draw on expertise from across all the partners.‎

Andy Lane, vice president of CCUS solutions at bp and managing director for Net Zero Teesside, said: ‎‎“The formation of the Northern Endurance Partnership is another significant milestone towards ‎developing the offshore infrastructure that will be needed to safely transport and store CO2 from ‎CCUS projects along England’s east coast. The partnership and our joint bid demonstrate industry’s ‎willingness to come together and collaborate wherever possible to accelerate making CCUS a reality ‎in the UK, helping to decarbonize the local economy and contributing to the UK’s climate goals.” ‎

Grete Tveit, senior vice president for low carbon solutions at Equinor, said: “Carbon capture and ‎storage is a crucial technology for reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement and we are committed ‎to working with others to create real change. We believe that with our partners in the Humber, ‎Teesside and the Northern Endurance Partnership we can deliver deep decarbonisation of these ‎major UK industrial clusters using CCUS and hydrogen, safeguarding jobs and helping develop world-‎leading low carbon expertise that can play a leading role in the UK’s journey to net zero by 2050.”‎

Martin Cook, senior vice president for business development for National Grid Ventures, said: ‎‎“National Grid sits at the heart of the UK’s energy system and we want to contribute to the economic ‎recovery through investing in solutions to support a net zero future. The Northern Endurance ‎Partnership will channel the extensive experience of its members to develop and deliver the offshore ‎transport and storage infrastructure we need to unlock the enormous benefits of deploying CCUS ‎across the Humber and Teesside. We’re delighted to start working together with five really world ‎class energy companies to deliver a solution that will play a critical role in decarbonising the UK’s ‎largest industrial heartland and protecting tens of thousands of jobs in the process.”‎