Wintershall Dea awarded first CCS Licence in the United Kingdom
Anticipated annual storage potential of up to 6 million tonnes of CO2 in the Camelot licence
Wintershall Dea is intensifying its carbon capture and storage (CCS) activities in the Southern North Sea. The company has been awarded a new licence by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to store CO2 under the seabed. The Camelot licence’s annual storage potential is up to 6 million tonnes and provides a significant and valuable contribution to the CO2 abatement potential in the UK.
With ambitions to become a leading gas & carbon management company, Wintershall Dea views the award as an important steppingstone to access the UK’s CCS industry, and to develop Northwest Europe as a key region for carbon management technologies in the company’s portfolio.
"Wintershall Dea is among the leading CCS players in the North Sea with a total of four licences in three North Sea countries. With the Camelot project, we are once again reaffirming our intention to develop CO2 storage sites in the North Sea to deliver solutions to tackle climate change and decarbonise industries”, said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea's Chief Technology Officer, and member of the Executive Board. "We are pleased to be maturing this project and thus adding another essential puzzle piece to a European CO2 infrastructure, utilizing our expertise from our CCS projects in Norway and Denmark,” he added.
The licence is for the Camelot area, which is a combination of depleted gas fields and an overlying saline aquifer. Wintershall Dea will hold a 50 per cent interest together with Synergia Energy, who will be project operator in the appraisal phase.
The work programme will be developed and managed by Wintershall Dea Carbon Management Solutions UK. The entity was established in August 2022 to assess and implement carbon management projects in the UK sector of the North Sea.
Wintershall Dea has been an active player in the UK North Sea for many years and is thus very familiar with the subsurface in the area. “With the extensive subsurface and operational expertise that we have gained over time, Wintershall Dea is well-equipped to contribute to developing these reservoirs to store CO2 potentially starting from 2030. This is a great success in this highly competitive environment”, said Matthias Pfeiffer, Country Lead CCS & Hydrogen UK at Wintershall Dea.
The British government has defined CCS as one of the main pillars to mitigate climate change and decarbonise the energy system as well as heavy and energy intensive industries. The NSTA announced that it would award over 100 licences on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in the next few years to fully exploit the offshore storage potential.
Wintershall Dea is transforming from the leading European independent gas and oil company to become a leading European independent gas and carbon management company. We have more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 11 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. And we develop carbon management and low carbon hydrogen projects to contribute to climate goals and secure energy supplies.