One of the largest carbon storage projects in the UK has achieved a milestone that would allow it to move forward. The Endurance carbon capture and storage (CCS) project was awarded an Agreement for Lease from the UK’s Crown Estate which would let BP, as the lead operator, progress further with the planned initiative.
The Endurance CCS project involves a reservoir in the North Sea that would be used to store hard-to-abate carbon emissions captured from carbon-intensive heavy industry in Teesside and Humberside. It has a potential capacity of 450 million metric tons of CO2 storage.
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It is part of the Northern Endurance Partnership’s (NEP) East Coast Cluster, formed in 2020 which is the CO2 transportation and storage company that will deliver the onshore and offshore infrastructure needed to capture carbon from a range of emitters in Teesside and the Humber region.
The cluster, also known as the East Coast Clusters, was selected by the UK government as one of the first clusters in phase 1 of the UK Government’s CCS cluster sequencing process. As part of the government plan for carbon capture development, £1 billion will be provided to the industry to deploy CCUS at pace to help fulfill the country’s climate target of capturing and storing 20-30 MtCO2 per year by 2030.
BP was part of the founding companies of the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) with reportedly five other energy majors. Since 2020 when the partnership was formed, Shell and National Grid have withdrawn from the efforts in order to focus on alternate projects.
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BP, Eni, Equinor, and TotalEnergies are the companies that continue to take part and push the project forward. It is expected to have the first elements in place by 2026 and be fully operational by 2030.
“The Crown Estate is firmly focused on maximizing the potential of the seabed in support of net zero and energy security… Supporting the development of CCS is a key priority for The Crown Estate,” commented on the news Gus Jaspert, Managing Director of Marine at The Crown Estate.
