Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Hydrogen technology will be vital to cutting emissions and strengthening energy resilience, but progress will stall without co-ordination of infrastructure, clearer cross-border rules and stronger investor confidence, according to a new report OEUK commissioned from DNV.
In the first of two studies launched at OEUK’s first CCS & Hydrogen Summit in Edinburgh today, DNV’s ‘An Integrated and Resilient North Sea’ report examines CO2 transport and storage and hydrogen transport across the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France. It argues that planning infrastructure as one integrated North Sea system, rather than as isolated national or project-level developments, is essential to deliver affordability, resilience, interoperability and long-term value.
Laura Moyle, OEUK’s CCS and Carbon Markets Manager, said;
'The UK and Norway are well placed to become long-term CO2 storage providers for Europe. In particular, the UK Southern North Sea offers potential cost and resilience advantages for industrial clusters in northwest Europe, while the wider basin benefits from the geology, offshore infrastructure and skilled workforce built through decades of oil and gas development.
Europe’s CCS sector is moving into a scale-up phase, with transport and storage capacity currently outpacing carbon capture. The UK Continental Shelf alone has geological potential to store around 70 billion tonnes of CO2, but that advantage may not last. By the mid-to-late 2040s, capture volumes could match or exceed planned injection capacity unless additional storage sites are licensed and developed. Resilience must be built in from the start to enable infrastructure to be scalable, interoperable and investable, with clear rules on cross-border access, liability, regulation and long-term stewardship. Economic analysis shows CCS and hydrogen transport and storage are long-term, capital-intensive investments, with payback periods are expected to be around 20 to 30 years.'
Hydrogen demand is expected to grow more gradually, but DNV’s study points to a clear long-term need for cross-border transport and large-scale storage. It says networks in the UK and across Europe should be designed to work together from the start, drawing on lessons from gas transportation, system balancing, metering and storage to avoid costly retrofits and support future interconnection.
To support UK and wider European CCS ambitions, the ‘Enabling Infrastructure for cross-border CO2 transport’ study, by Xodus, supported by a consortium of UK and European organisations including OEUK assesses the technology, port capacity and suitability, and likely capital investment required across the region. It also examines the volumes of CO2 that could be transported between European regions at 10-year intervals. At each interval, the North Sea region is anticipated to store the most significant share of cross border CO2 flows, going from 18 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in 2030 to 36MTPA in 2050.
The North Sea is a cornerstone of the energy system today and the knowledge gained from decades of North Sea experience is crucial to the energies of tomorrow. OEUK recently updated guidance on Well Decommissioning and Legacy Well Assessment for CO2 Storage (Issue 2), reflecting the latest industry expertise on decommissioned wells and expanding the document’s scope. These support well operators and engineers in maintaining the integrity of future CO2 storage sites and help CO2 storage operators to assess the integrity of inherited legacy (decommissioned) wells during the conversion of a reservoir to a carbon store.
The DNV report is available here and Xodus will be launching its study at OEUK’s CCS & Hydrogen Summit in Edinburgh.
Guidelines for Well Decommissioning and Legacy Well Assessment for CO2 Storage- Issue 2 is on the OEUK website here.
Source: OEUK
