German Firm Farms Into UK Offshore Carbon Storage License

Nov 14, 2023

Credit: Carbon Catalyst Limited

Carbon Catalyst Limited (CCL) said Tuesday it had completed the farmout of a 10% stake in the Poseidon carbon storage license located in the Southern North Sea sector of the UK Continental Shelf, to Wintershall DEA.

As part of the deal, German oil and gas firm Wintershall Dea joins CCL and license operator Perenco in what has been described as a potentially world-class mass decarbonization project. The license was awarded to Perenco and Carbon Catalyst as part of the UK’s first CO₂ storage licensing round.

This is Wintershall Dea’s entry into a second UK CCS project and fifth in the wider North Sea, including the Greensands CCS project in the Danish North Sea.

In March 2023, together with INEOS, Wintershall Dea demonstrated the first full cross-border CCS value chain in Europe with the pilot injection of CO2 from a Belgian emitter which was safely stored in the depleted Nini West oil field.

Fergus Marcroft, Executive Director at Carbon Catalyst, commented: “CCL is delighted to welcome Wintershall Dea to the Poseidon CCS project. Wintershall Dea brings considerable relevant experience to the project, not least its experience of the Greensands CCS project in Denmark, which earlier this year performed the first cross-border CO2 injectivity test.”

‘Poseidon’ is among the largest CO2 transportation & storage projects in the UK. It is scheduled to be operational by 2029, with a total annual storage capacity of up to 40 million tonnes in its full development stage. It envisages the permanent geological storage of approximately one billion metric tons of CO2.

The project is expected to connect a wide range of CO2 emitters across the East and Southeast of England and has the potential to significantly decarbonize the area. The CO2 is planned to be transported via the Perenco-operated Bacton Gas Terminal to the offshore ‘Poseidon’ storage site. The carbon storage license is located in the UK Southern North Sea, about 65 kilometers off the coast from Bacton in the county of Norfolk. It covers the geological structures of the Leman gas field and offers a combination of depleted reservoirs and saline aquifers suitable for permanent carbon storage.