Eni Secures UK CO2 Storage Licence

The UK's Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) announced on October 8 it had awarded a six-year CO₂ appraisal and storage licence to Italy's Eni covering part of the Liverpool bay area in the East Irish Sea.

Eni plans to repurpose the depleted reservoirs at the Hamilton, Hamilton North and Lennox fields and their infrastructure to permanently store CO₂ captured in northwest England and north Wales. This will be done as part of the government-backed HyNet project, which also involves hydrogen production.

"The Energy Integration work we’ve been leading shows that the combination of various energy systems, including carbon capture and hydrogen, can make a significant contribution to the UK’s net zero 2050 target," OGA CEO Andy Samuel said. "HyNet is an exciting example of energy integration in action – re-using existing infrastructure and depleted reservoirs for significant carbon storage, coupled with hydrogen generation for a variety of innovative uses."

A consortium comprising Cadent, Progressive Energy, CF Fertilisers, Essar, Peel and the University of Chester was awarded grant funding last year for pre-Feed engineering for the CO₂ storage plan. Eni's licence does not cover development activities such as drilling and injection testing, which will require further permits.

HyNet also aims to produce hydrogen from gas at the Stanlow refinery in northwest England, convert local industrial sites to run on hydrogen instead of gas, and develop a hydrogen distribution network.