Italian multinational energy company Eni announced on Oct. 17 it had reached an agreement with the British government on the key terms and conditions for offering services in the HyNet North West carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the UK.
Eni serves as the operator for carbon dioxide transport and storage within the British consortium, which aims to convert a highly energy-intensive industrial zone in the UK into a low-carbon industrial cluster through the implementation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.
CCS will play an important role in energy transition by safely decreasing emissions from sectors that presently don’t have the technology to do so in a different way, said the CEO of Eni Claudio Descalzi. “Today’s agreement is a significant step towards establishing a significant new industry for the country,” he also said, adding that the rules agreed with the UK outlined a framework that offers the necessary certainty for private sector investments in the field of carbon capture and storage.
HyNet North West is set out to go operational by mid-decade with a storage capacity of about 4.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually in the first phase.
Relevant: HyNet North West CO2 Capture Project Reaches 19 Signed MoUs
The project has the potential to remove around 10 million tons per year after 2030.
Eni is planning a second carbon capture and storage hub in the UK to decarbonize the Bacton Energy Hub and the Thames Estuary region, and has been given a licence to store carbon dioxide in the depleted Hewett gas field in the southern North Sea.
Read more: UK Confirms Carbon Capture Clusters, Opens Consultation On Carbon Border Tax
