Oil companies given licences for North Sea carbon storage
Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent
Oil firms have been granted licences by the government that it hopes will enable them to store up to 10% of the UK’s carbon emissions in old oil and gasfields beneath the seabed.
The government awarded more than 20 North Sea licences covering an area the size of Yorkshire to 14 companies that plan to store carbon dioxide trapped from heavy industry in depleted oil and gasfields.
The companies include Shell, Italy’s state-owned oil company ENI, and Harbour Energy, the largest independent oil and gas company operating in the UK’s North Sea basin.
The government-backed regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), claims the companies could help store up to 30m tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030, or approximately 10% of UK annual emissions.
The plan to develop old oil and gasfields into vast repositories of CO2 is part of the government’s plan to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry to reduce emissions from heavy industry entering the atmosphere and contributing to global heating.
Stuart Payne, the NSTA’s chief executive, said: “Carbon storage will play a crucial role in the energy transition, storing carbon dioxide deep under the seabed and playing a key role in hydrogen production and energy hubs.”
“It is exciting to award these licences and our teams will support the licensees to bring about first injection of carbon dioxide as soon as possible,” he added.
Mike Tholen, a policy director at the industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), said: “If we get this right, it could not only significantly reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, but position us as world leaders in the low carbon space.”
OEUK estimates that the UK would need 100 or more carbon storage sites to reach the government’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Some green groups have questioned the validity of the government’s focus on CCS, which they say is a distraction from investing in low-carbon energy. But analysis from the UK’s independent climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee, shows it would be difficult for the government to achieve its ambitions without CCS.
Business
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2023-09-16T07:00:00.0000000Z
2023-09-16T07:00:00.0000000Z
https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/282359749312122
Guardian/Observer
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