between Equinor , Shell and Total , and is a key component of Longship , the Norwegian Government ’ s full-scale carbon capture and storage project .
transmission and distribution projects . The consultation identifies a two-phase process in 2021 , whereby industrial carbon clusters will be evaluated and sequenced , and individual carbon capture and transportation projects for clusters will be selected . Final investment decision on the initial clusters is timetabled for H1 2022 , and onwards . The paper also outlines the government funding available for CCS , including the £ 1bn CCS Infrastructure Fund . The target is to have at least two CCUS schemes up and running by the mid-2020s and two more by 2030 to capture at least 10 million tonnes per annum of CO2 .
After publication of the consultation , the Government subsequently invited operators to submit initial proposals for its CCS cluster sequencing process .
It has received proposals from five CCS projects :
• DelpHYnus , operated by Neptune Energy , located south of the Humber estuary .
• East Coast Cluster , which brings together the BP-led Net Zero Teesside and Equinorled Zero Carbon Humber schemes and the Northern Endurance Partnership ( NEP ), which involves Eni , National Grid , Shell and TotalEnergies .
• Eni ’ s Hynet scheme , located on the northwest coast of England .
• Scottish Cluster , which includes the Acorn scheme with backers Shell , ExxonMobil , Storegga , Harbour Energy , Macquarie , Ineos ,
Petrofac and Wood .
• V Net Zero , led by Harbour Energy , located south of the Humber estuary .
The Government has said that all met the initial test to demonstrate they could credibly become operational by the end of the decade . These will now move forward to the next round of selection , called Track 1- due in October .
Probably one of the most ambitious European CCS projects is called Northern Lights which , when it starts operations in 2024 , will be the first ever cross-border , open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network . It will offer companies across Europe the opportunity to store their CO2 safely and permanently deep under the seabed off Norway . The company is building two dedicated CO2 carriers and will ship captured CO2 to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast and , from there , transport it by pipeline to an offshore subsurface storage location in the North Sea .
Phase 1 of the project will be completed mid-2024 with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year . The ambition is to expand capacity by an additional 3.5 million tonnes to a total of 5 million tonnes , dependent on market demand . However , the receiving terminal , offshore pipeline , and the umbilical to the offshore template will be built to accommodate the additional volumes . Both phases will offer flexibility to receive CO2 from European sources . The project is a partnership
It is estimated that the UK and Norway have , collectively , courtesy of the North Sea , 90 % of the currently identified carbon storage geologies in the whole of Europe .
In Australia , the government announced , in June , the backing of six carbon-capture projects at a cost of $ 39 million .
Also in June , the Dutch government confirmed that it has awarded € 2.1 billion , nearly half of its 2021 annual budget for sustainable projects , to a project aimed at capturing and storing carbon emissions from Europe ’ s largest port , Rotterdam .
The ‘ Porthos ’ project , being developed by an industrial consortium that includes Shell , ExxonMobil , Air Liquide and Air Products , aims to collect emissions from factories and refineries in the environs of the port and store them in empty gas fields in the North Sea .
The IEA asserts that CCS will need to be a key pillar of a successful energy transition , as the only group of technologies that contribute both to directly reducing emissions in critical economic sectors and to removing CO2 to balance emissions that cannot be avoided – a balance that is critical to achieve net-zero emission goals .
The challenge , however , is daunting . In its analysis of net-zero pathways , the IEA projects that the need for CO2 storage will grow from the current 40 million Mt per year to more than 5000 million Mt per year by 2050 . This , in turn , will necessitate carbon management services – transporting and storing CO2 in large quantities – becoming a global industry supporting emissions reductions across multiple parts of the energy system .
It may be that the ‘ wake-up-call ’ from the recent IPCC report will create greatly increased impetus to the expansion of global CCS capacity- but a lot of headway needs to be made and substantial outlays committed !
ROD PROWSE , worked for 30 years across the full spectrum of the downstream oil sector , in both the UK and USA , which has included leadership positions in both retail and wholesale fuels businesses . Rod draws on his extensive knowledge of this global industry to bring us ‘ Industry Insights ’.
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