Aquaterra scoops up two jobs on Britain’s first permitted offshore carbon storage project

Aquaterra Energy, a UK-headquartered offshore energy engineering solutions provider, has picked up a new set of assignments with Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) – encompassing BP, Equinor, and TotalEnergies – for work on the first offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to receive a carbon storage permit in the UK.

The two contracts will enable Aquaterra Energy to support the Northern Endurance Partnership, which is the CO2 transportation and storage provider for the East Coast Cluster. Initially, this project is expected to serve three carbon capture projects in the Teesside region. Sonardyne was hired to deliver baseline environmental monitoring services for the site where the project will be situated.

Located around 75 kilometers east of Flamborough Head, off Teesside on England’s east coast, the project is expected to enter construction in mid-2025, with the first injection as early as 2027, and start-up in 2028. With commercial and technical evaluations out of the way, Aquaterra’s first deal will address the challenge of re-abandoning two legacy wells, perceived as a critical step in securing the long-term integrity of the site for safe CO2 storage.

To this end, the company will deploy its legacy well re-entry and re-abandonment services, including its patent-pending recoverable abandonment frame (RAF), which enables a vertical well re-entry tie-back method, described as delivering operational efficiency and assurance that legacy wells will not compromise the security of stored CO2.

George Morrison, CEO of Aquaterra Energy, commented: “This is a milestone project for CCS in the UK, and we’re proud to be playing a central role. Our early recognition of the engineering challenges facing the sector has enabled us to be at the forefront of this pioneering initiative, providing the solutions needed for enabling long term, large-scale offshore CO2 storage. This project has the potential to set a global benchmark, and we’re excited to help lead the way.”

As the second contract covers seabed-to-surface well access services for the drilling of six new CO2 injection subsea wells, the firm will supply its CCS-ready high-pressure subsea drilling riser system, entailing its proprietary AQC-CW connectors, qualified to ISO 13628-7 and engineered for repeated make-and-break cycles, with replaceable seal rings and field-serviceable components that are deemed to ensure long-term integrity and performance.

Ben Cannell, Innovation Director at Aquaterra Energy, highlighted: “Securing both scopes for the Northern Endurance Partnership reinforces confidence in our specialist CCS technology and well access expertise. As the pace of carbon storage projects accelerates, the demand for efficient and CCS compliant drilling intervention and abandonment solutions will continue to grow.

“With thousands of wells to be both re-abandoned and drilled in the future globally, robust, field-proven systems like ours will be essential to deliver safe and scalable storage in order to de-carbonise hard to abate large static emitters such as steel manufacture, cement production and other large industrial processes quickly.”

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granted the NEP the first-ever carbon storage permit in the UK a few months ago to advance the project with a permitted injection rate of 4 million tonnes annually, which is said to be key to moving the United Kingdom towards the government’s target of capturing and storing 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.

Noble’s Noble Innovator jack-up rig was recently selected to drill six firm wells for the NEP in the North Sea, starting from Q3 2026. The Northern Endurance Partnership also confirmed a series of offshore contract awards to four UK-based companies to support the next phase of its CCS infrastructure, boosting the execution phase, which will support three initial carbon capture projects on Teesside: NZT Power, H2Teesside, and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture.

The four companies contracted to deliver the East Coast Cluster are Sonardyne, Aquaterra Energy, Noble Corporation, and Expro, which is tasked with the delivery of integrated well testing services for two wells in the Endurance reservoir for future CCS suitability, using capabilities and technologies from its well testing, fluid sampling and analysis, and subsea business segments.

Rich Denny, NEP’s Managing Director, underlined: “These contract awards represent a major milestone in delivering the UK’s offshore carbon capture and storage infrastructure, advancing our mission to decarbonise the East Coast industrial heartland and helping the UK meet its net zero targets.”

The NEP infrastructure consists of a CO2 gathering network and onshore compression facilities, as well as a 145-kilometer offshore pipeline and subsea injection and monitoring systems for the Endurance saline aquifer around 1,000 meters below the seabed.