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    Equinor and partners sanction two UK CCS projects

Summary

Initial stages of projects would capture and store up to 4mn tonnes/year of carbon. [Image: NEP]

by: Dale Lunan

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Europe, Energy Transition, Carbon, Gas to Power, Corporate, Investments, Political, Environment, Infrastructure, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), News By Country, United Kingdom

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Equinor and partners sanction two UK CCS projects

Norway’s Equinor and its partners said December 10 they had reached financial close and made final investment decisions on two carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the UK, the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power).

NEP is the CO2 transportation and storage provider for the East Coast Cluster, one of the UK government’s first selected CCS cluster, while NZT Power, part of the East Coast Cluster is a 742 MW gas-fired power plant that will capture and store, via the NEP, up to 2mn tonnes/year of CO2.

Combined value of both projects, construction of which will be undertaken by nine leading engineering, procurement and construction contractors, has been estimated at around £4bn.

“It is a major milestone to have agreed final investment decision and financial close on two of the UK’s first carbon capture, transport and storage infrastructure projects,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of marketing, midstream and processing at Equinor. “This demonstrates how the industry, alongside the UK government, have progressed a business model for new power supply and carbon capture, transport and storage services to decarbonise the most carbon intensive region in the UK.”

Construction on NEP is expected to begin from mid-2025, with start-up in 2028. The project consists of a CO2 gathering network and onshore compression facilities, a 145-km offshore pipeline and subsea injection and monitoring facilities at the Endurance saline aquifer storage site, located some 1,000 m below the seabed.

Initially, NEP will transport and sequester up to 4mn tonnes/year of CO2emissions from three Teesside projects, including NZT Power, with up to 23mn tonnes/year transported and stored by 2035 as the East Coast Cluster expands.

Equinor holds a 45% interest in NEP, with another 45% held by BP, which will be the project’s operator, and the remaining 10% by French major TotalEnergies. BP holds a 75% operating interest in NZT alongside Equinor’s 25% interest.

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