Carbon capture and storage project to safeguard 350,000 manufacturing jobs

Energy company Eni has reached financial close on a major deal with the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) which will see them award around £2 billion in supply chain contracts for their Liverpool Bay Carbon Capture and Storage Project. 

The project’s backers say that it will make regional industry more climate friendly, and help  safeguard the 350,000 manufacturing jobs in the region. Some £17 billion of economic value will be created over the next 25 years, it is claimed.

Eni is the operator of the CO2 transport and storage system (T&S) of the HyNet industrial Cluster. Financial close means the Liverpool Bay CCS project can move onto the construction phase, unlocking key investments in supply chain contracts, the majority of which will be spent locally. 

DESNZ says the project will support the UK’s industrial competitiveness for the long term, by safeguarding existing industrial employment and creating new production chains and jobs which, in the construction phase alone, are estimated to be about 2,000 people.

This announcement came as the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) awarded three carbon storage permits to Eni for its Liverpool Bay CCS project that will create a network of clean infrastructure, decarbonising industries like energy from waste, hydrogen and cement production. The Liverpool Bay CCS project will provide  the backbone of the HyNet Cluster, transporting carbon dioxide from capture plants across the North West of England and North Wales through new and repurposed infrastructure to storage in Eni’s depleted natural gas reservoirs under Liverpool Bay. 

The project will repurpose part of offshore platforms and some149km of onshore and offshore pipelines. It will also involve construction of 35km of new pipelines to connect industrial emitters to the Liverpool Bay CCS network.

Speaking at the Future of Energy Security Summit hosted by the UK government and International Energy Agency on Thursday (24 April) Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Our Plan for Change is working – we said we’d deliver jobs and growth through carbon capture technology, and now we have. Shovels ready for the ground, supporting over 2,000 new jobs and supporting thousands more, transforming the lives of hard-working people.”

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:”Today we keep our promise to launch a whole new clean energy industry for our country – carbon capture and storage – to deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs and revitalise our industrial communities. 

“We are making the UK energy secure and backing our engineers, electricians and welders so we can protect families and businesses and drive jobs through our Plan for Change.”

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said:”The strategic agreement with the UK government paves the way for the industrial-scale development of CCS, a sector in which the United Kingdom reaffirms its leadership thanks to the promotion of a regulatory framework that aims to strengthen the development of CCS and make it fully competitive in the market.  

“Eni has established itself as a leading operator in the UK thanks to its key role in CO2 transport and storage activities as the leader of the HyNet Consortium, which will become one of the first low-carbon clusters in the world.”