Eni, UK reach agreement on HyNet North West CCS cluster

Italian energy company Eni has reached an agreement in principle with the UK government on the key terms for the economic, regulatory and governance model for the transportation and storage of carbon dioxide at the HyNet North West industrial CCS cluster, it said on October 17.

The agreement, set out in heads of terms, paves the way for the completion of definitive agreements in the coming months. It is an important step towards HyNet North West becoming fully operational as the world's first asset-based regulated CCS business, providing carbon transportation and storage for companies in the North West of England and North Wales, Eni said.

Eni believes that CCS is crucial in the energy transition strategy and it is becoming a significant business for the company. Moreover, the company is planning a second UK CCS hub to decarbonise the Bacton Energy Hub and the Thames Estuary region, and has been granted a license to store carbon dioxide in the depleted Hewett gas field in the Southern North Sea. Together, HyNet North West and Bacton have the capacity to store 500mn tonnes of CO2.

HyNet North West is expected to be operational by the middle of the current decade with a storage capacity of approximately 4.5mn tonnes/year of CO2 in the first phase. It has the potential to remove approximately 10mn tonnes/year after 2030.