- Geotechnical data and analytics agreements accelerate pathway to infrastructure debt financing for MESH salt caverns and reduce pre-FID capex
AIM-listed EnergyPathways, the UK energy transition company, announces that it has entered into a number of technical agreements giving it access to a suite of geotechnical data and analytical services to support the development concept for the salt caverns at its MESH project in the East Irish Sea and at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Highlights
- Technical agreements secured giving access to a suite of geotechnical data and analytical services
- Reprocessing, interpretation and analytical work will be used to further de-risk the geotechnical model of the salt sequence within the Company's Gas Storage Licence GS009
- The model will underpin a financial bankability certification for salt cavern construction
- Bankability certification will support the pathway to MESH infrastructure debt financing
- Agreements deliver material cost savings of circa £20 million as they remove the requirement for appraisal drilling or seismic acquisition
- The works will satisfy a significant part of the Company's Gas Storage Licence obligations
Geotechnical studies
These data and services will enable EnergyPathways to complete reprocessing, interpretative and analytical techniques to develop geotechnical models. These models are expected to confirm the financial bankability of salt cavern construction within the Company's storage licence, supporting the use of infrastructure debt financing for cavern construction.
The geotechnical model will form the basis of a financial bankability certification, targeted for completion in the first half of 2027, which will support engagement on infrastructure financing.
By securing access to existing data and analytical services, the Company will obtain critical technical data without incurring the cost of future appraisal drilling or seismic acquisition, achieving an indicative saving of more than £20 million. The works will also satisfy a significant part of the Company's Gas Storage Licence obligations.
Strong salt sequence fundamentals
The salt sequence within EnergyPathways' licence has strong fundamentals for commercial cavern construction:
- thick and geologically predictable bedded salt sequence: 500-600 metres thick, suitable for large-scale caverns;
- very low insoluble content: for efficient solution mining;
- high geomechanical strength: supporting cavern integrity;
- optimal depth: for low-cost pressure management;
- offshore location: for low-cost, low environmental impact brine dispersal; and
- shallow water: for low-cost development drilling.
Commenting on the technical agreements, Ben Clube, CEO of EnergyPathways, said:
'These agreements allow us to accelerate the technical development of MESH while keeping a tight focus on cost. By working with an existing, high-quality data suite rather than drilling additional appraisal wells or acquiring new seismic data, we expect to save more than £20 million and move more rapidly towards bankability certification, which is a critical aspect of accessing debt financing.
'We expect the studies to demonstrate that the fundamentals of our salt sequence are strong, and the certification will represent an important technical and commercial milestone in the development of MESH.'
About MESH: https://energypathways.uk/mesh
Source: EnergyPathways
