United Kingdom – Eni and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) of the UK government have reached an agreement in principle on the main terms and conditions for the commercial, regulatory, and governance model for the transportation and storage of carbon dioxide at the HyNet North West industrial CCS cluster.
These principles, which are outlined in the Heads of Terms, lay the way for the conclusion of concrete agreements in the upcoming months. The deal is a crucial step toward HyNet North West being the first asset-based, regulated CCS company, fully operational and offering carbon transportation and storage for businesses in the North West of England and North Wales.
Eni thinks CCS might be essential to the company’s strategy for the energy transition and grow into a sizable business. It has acquired a dominant position in the UK, where Eni is the HyNet North West consortium’s CO2 transport and storage operator. Additionally, the company has been given permission to store carbon dioxide in the depleted Hewett gas field in the Southern North Sea and is seeking to build a second UK CCS center to decarbonize the Bacton Energy center and the Thames Estuary region. Bacton and HyNet North West have the capacity to store 500 million tonnes of CO2 collectively.
Low-carbon industrial clusters
One of the most energy-intensive industrial regions in the nation will become one of the first low-carbon industrial clusters in the world thanks to HyNet North West.
With a first-phase storage capacity of roughly 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, HyNet North West is anticipated to be operational by the middle of the present decade. After 2030, it might eliminate almost 10 million people annually. To help the UK reach its goal of storing 20–30 million tons of CO2 annually by 2030, HyNet North West will play a significant role.
