UK’s first ever carbon storage becoming a reality, first injection expected in 2027

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has awarded the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), comprising BP, Shell and TotalEnergies, with the first-ever carbon storage permit in the UK.

The project, located around 75 kilometers east of Flamborough Head, off Teesside on England’s east coast, is expected to enter construction in mid-2025, first injection could come as early as 2027, and start up in 2028. With a permitted injection rate of 4 million tonnes annually, averaged over a duration of 25 years, this could reach a total of 100 million tonnes.

The permit, which was issued alongside the Economic Licence granted by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, allows Net Zero North Sea Storage Limited, an incorporated joint venture between the three companies, to start installing infrastructure on the site. 

The infrastructure will initially serve three carbon capture projects in the Teesside region, including NZT Power, H2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture. This includes an onshore CO2 gathering network, compression facilities and a 145-kilometer offshore pipeline connected to subsea injection facilities in the Endurance saline aquifer located around 1,000 meters below the seabed.

“This is a truly historic day. Carbon storage has been long planned but is now becoming a reality. For a long time we have talked about the possibility of carbon storage; we have often touted the UK’s vast geographic potential of 78GT, we have drawn up plans for a carbon storage economy and we have grasped the prospect of new jobs. Now we are making it happen,” said Stuart Payne, NSTA Chief Executive.

“The energy industry already has the infrastructure, a world class supply chain and highly-skilled people who can drive the change we need to maintain a thriving energy sector which offers quality jobs and leads the way to net zero. Now let’s put them to work.” 

In separate announcements, the NEP partners said they had reached financial close for the project. Equinor reported that besides NEP, the financial close had been reached for NZT Power as well, in which it holds a 25% stake and BP 75%.

In NEP, Equinor and BP each have 45% stakes, while 10% is held by TotalEnergies. BP is the operator on both projects.

Also known as the East Coast Cluster, Endurance was named as one of the two locations in the Track 1 cluster alongside HyNet, in the East Irish Sea.  

There are a further 26 carbon dioxide appraisal and storage licenses on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), including the 21 awarded by the NSTA last year in the UK’s first-ever carbon storage licensing round. The plan is to grant the second permit in the coming months.