The Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) has received consent to drill a carbon storage appraisal well in the North Sea, marking another step forward for the UK’s expanding carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector.
Approval was granted by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), allowing the partnership to evaluate the capacity and injectivity of a proposed CO2 storage site off the coast of Teesside. The appraisal well will support development of the East Coast Cluster, one of the UK’s first large-scale CCS networks.
NEP is a joint venture between BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies and secured the UK’s first carbon storage permit in December 2024.
Appraisal drilling to inform storage capacity
The appraisal campaign will use the Noble Intrepid drilling rig to gather geological data critical to confirming the site’s suitability for long-term CO2 storage. Drilling and analysis are expected to take approximately 90 days.
Once operational, the project could transport and store up to four million tons of CO2 per year, supporting industrial decarbonization in the Teesside region.
The UK government has backed early CCS deployment with a £21.7 billion ($29 billion) funding package over 25 years for the East Coast Cluster and the HyNet North West cluster.
The appraisal program will be managed by Net Zero North Sea Storage under carbon storage license CS006 in the Southern North Sea, as the UK continues to expand its offshore CO2 storage capacity.
Read more: Stanlow Consortium Maps CO2 Shipping Route Into UK Offshore Storage
