Oil companies granted licences to store carbon under the North Sea

Government hopes companies including Shell will be able to store up to 10% of the UK’s annual carbon emissions

Oil companies have been granted licences by the government that it hopes will enable them to store up to 10% of the UK’s carbon emissions in old oil and gasfields beneath the seabed.

The government awarded more than 20 North Sea licences covering an area the size of Yorkshire to 14 companies that plan to store carbon dioxide trapped from heavy industry in depleted oil and gasfields.

The companies include the oil supermajor Shell, Italy’s state-owned oil company ENI, and Harbour Energy, the largest independent oil and gas company operating in the UK’s North Sea basin.

The industry’s government-backed regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), claims the companies could help store up to 30m tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030, or approximately 10% of UK annual emissions.

The plan to develop old oil and gasfields into vast repositories of CO2 is part of the government’s plan to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry to reduce emissions from heavy industry entering the atmosphere and contributing to global heating.

Stuart Payne, the NSTA’s chief executive, said: “Carbon storage will play a crucial role in the energy transition, storing carbon dioxide deep under the seabed and playing a key role in hydrogen production and energy hubs.”

“It is exciting to award these licences and our teams will support the licensees to bring about first injection of carbon dioxide as soon as possible,” he added.

Mike Tholen, a policy director at industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), said: “If we get this right, it could not only significantly reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, but position us as world leaders in the low carbon space – creating opportunities for UK people and businesses and playing on our industrial strengths.”

The OEUK estimates that the UK would need 100 carbon storage sites or more to reach the government’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Some green groups have questioned the validity of the government’s focus on CCS, which they claim is an expensive distraction from investing in low-carbon forms of energy. But analysis from the UK’s independent climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, shows it would be difficult for the government to achieve its ambitions without it.

Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images - Oil companies plan to store carbon dioxide trapped from heavy industry in depleted oil and gasfields under the North Sea.