Another carbon storage license awarded in UK North Sea

Just shortly after news that the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) awarded a license for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to Perenco UK and Carbon Catalyst as part of its first competitive carbon storage license round, Wintershall Dea announced it had won one as well.

Wintershall Dea’s Camelot license has an anticipated annual storage potential of up to 6 million tonnes and is said to provide a significant and valuable contribution to the CO2 abatement potential in the UK.

The Camelot area in the Southern North Sea is a combination of depleted gas fields and an overlying saline aquifer. Wintershall Dea will hold a 50% interest together with Synergia Energy, who will be the project operator in the appraisal phase.

“With the extensive subsurface and operational expertise that we have gained over time, Wintershall Dea is well-equipped to contribute to developing these reservoirs to store CO₂ potentially starting from 2030. This is a great success in this highly competitive environment,” said Matthias Pfeiffer, Country Lead CCS & Hydrogen UK at Wintershall Dea.

The work program will be developed and managed by Wintershall Dea Carbon Management Solutions UK, an entity established in August 2022 to assess and implement carbon management projects in the UK sector of the North Sea.

“Wintershall Dea is among the leading CCS players in the North Sea with a total of four licences in three North Sea countries. With the Camelot project, we are once again reaffirming our intention to develop CO₂ storage sites in the North Sea to deliver solutions to tackle climate change and decarbonise industries,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea’s Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Board.

“We are pleased to be maturing this project and thus adding another essential puzzle piece to a European CO₂ infrastructure, utilizing our expertise from our CCS projects in Norway and Denmark.”

The British government has defined CCS as one of the main pillars to mitigate climate change and decarbonize the energy system as well as heavy and energy-intensive industries. The NSTA announced that it would award over 100 licenses on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in the next few years to fully exploit the offshore storage potential.

Earlier today it was reported that Perenco UK and Carbon Catalyst secured a license to progress their Poseidon CCS project at the Leman gas fields in the UK southern North Sea.

To remind, Wintershall Dea and its partner INEOS marked a major milestone offshore Denmark and a world first with the first-ever injection of CO2 in the North Sea on 8 March as part of Project Greensand.

The company also recently secured a license for CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf in partnership with Altera Infrastructure Group.