Partnership of six energy majors aims to cut UK carbon emissions in half
27 October 2020
BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell, Total, and the UK’s National Grid have formed a new partnership, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), to develop the offshore infrastructure to transport and store millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions safely in the UK North Sea.
Plans for the offshore infrastructure - Image: Northern Endurance Partnership
With BP as operator, the infrastructure will serve the proposed Net Zero Teesside (NZT) and Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) projects that aim to establish decarbonised industrial clusters in Teesside and Humberside.
The projects will kick-start decarbonisation of industry in two of the UK’s largest industrial clusters. Both aim to start up in 2026, with realistic pathways to achieve net zero as early as 2030 through a combination of carbon capture, hydrogen and fuel switching.
The NEP, which aims 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, has submitted a bid for funding through Phase 2 of the UK Government’s £170 million Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge. This is part of the £4.7 billion Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund set up by the government to address the biggest industrial and societal challenges using UK-based research and development.
The application follows the approval by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) of the addition of BP and Equinor alongside National Grid to the CO2 appraisal and storage licence covering the Endurance reservoir.
This affirms the strategic importance of the Endurance reservoir (located about 145km off the coast from Teesside and around 85km from the Humber coast) as the most mature and large-scale saline aquifer for CO2 storage in the offshore UK Continental Shelf, that can potentially enable industrial decarbonization from both clusters.
Andy Lane, Vice President of CCUS solutions at BP and Managing Director for Net Zero Teesside, said: “The formation of the NEP 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.”
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