Shearwater bags its fifth CCS survey in last two years

Norway’s Shearwater GeoServices is set to deliver a seismic survey for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the UK during the summer.

Shearwater secured a contract for Spirit Energy’s recent carbon storage license award by the UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), located in the Morecambe Bay area.

The six-week operation is scheduled for the summer of 2024 and will be Shearwater’s fifth CCS survey in the last two years.

“We are proud to support Spirit Energy on the Morecambe CCS hub. By applying our innovative data collection and imaging technology to help operators gain a better understanding of their storage sites we support deployment of CCS at scale,” said Tanya Herwanger, SVP of Strategy and New Markets at Shearwater.

“CCS has been identified as a key mitigation measure for climate change but deployment at scale remains the challenge. We are leveraging our expertise and our marine seismic technology to meet this challenge in order to build a more sustainable future.”

The Morecambe Hub comprises three fields in the East Irish Sea – North Morecambe, South Morecambe and Rhyl, which lie approximately 25 kilometers southwest of Walney Island, in water depths ranging from 17 to 35 meters.

South Morecambe was discovered in 1974 and was the first to be developed, with production starting in 1985. The field has been developed using seven fixed jacket platforms, including the three-platform manned central processing complex (CPC), four normally unmanned installations (NUIs) and 36 development wells. Gas is exported via a 36” dedicated pipeline to the Barrow Gas Terminals.

North Morecambe was discovered in 1976, with first gas in 1994. The development includes the normally unmanned DPPA platform which acts as the main gathering hub for the area, ten development wells and a 12” pipeline to the Barrow Gas Terminals.

Rhyl, which is north of the North Morecambe field, was discovered in 2009 and brought into production in March 2013. It has been developed as a two-well subsea tieback to DPPA.