Eni announced, through a press release, the award of a license to build the CO2 storage project in north-west England

The capture and storage of CO2 allows us to increase the work of decarbonizing the planet and reusing sources considered exhausted for new fuels.

The British Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has announced that it has awarded Eni the license to build the carbon dioxide (CO2) storage project.

The storage license concerns an area located in the portion of Liverpool Bay in the Eastern Irish Sea, where Eni plans to reuse the exhausted hydrocarbon deposits - specifically the Hamilton, North Hamilton and Lennox fields - and reconvert the related infrastructure for permanent storage of captured CO2 in North West England and North Wales.

Thanks to this license, Eni intends to both contribute to the decarbonisation needs of North West England and North Wales, and actively collaborate with industrial companies to capture and transport CO2 from existing plants and future hydrogen production sites.

This will be used as a transition fuel for heating, electricity and transport as part of the UK's 2050 “zero emissions” target.

For Eni, the project will have positive effects for local communities through the creation of new job opportunities and support for the economic development of the region, as well as tracing a concrete path towards the energy transition and the decarbonisation of economic activities.

Andy Samuel, Chief Executive of OGA, said: “The OGA is very pleased to license what we are confident will be a very successful project.

The Energy Integration work we have conducted shows that the combination of various energy systems, including carbon capture and hydrogen production, can make a significant contribution to the UK's net-zero emissions target.

HyNet is an exciting example of energy integration in action, including the reuse of existing infrastructure and depleted fields for the storage of significant quantities of carbon dioxide, and the generation of hydrogen for multiple innovative applications.”

Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, commented: “I am very satisfied and proud to have been awarded the license for the storage of carbon dioxide in the United Kingdom, the first license of this kind for Eni.

This is a vitally important project for Eni and represents a fundamental milestone for the UK's "zero emissions" objectives, as well as being an essential pillar of the energy transition and decarbonisation strategy to which Eni is strongly committed."

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