UK Regulator Has Another CCS Licence Application
The UK upstream regulator Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) has received another application for the conversion of an offshore site into a carbon storage project, it said February 2.
The OGA said it will not name the company or publish the work programme until a licence is awarded. But the application shows an area of the southern North Sea that includes the once-prolific 'V' fields, operated by US major ConocoPhillips; as well as the northwest corner of the depleted Shell Expro Indefatigable field and the southeast corner of the Spirit Energy-operated depleted Audrey field, among others.
Last October the OGA awarded a carbon capture and storage (CCS) licence to Italian producer Eni for the Liverpool Bay area of the continental shelf on the western coast of the country. And the US major ExxonMobil has set up a low-carbon unit that has entered into talks with the existing partners "to support" the Acorn project, based on steam reformation of methane at the major St Fergus terminal to produce hydrogen and CO2. The CO2 would be injected into the now-depleted Goldeneye field, under Captain sandstone, subject to final investment decision. ExxonMobil jointly owns the Shell Esso Gas & Liquids Line (Segal) at the St Fergus terminal, It can handle 32mn m³/day of wet gas.
The UK government has promised £1 ($1.36)bn support for CCS projects.