The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is
today (14 June) launching the UK’s first-ever carbon storage licensing round
with 13 areas of exciting potential available.
The new carbon storage areas, alongside the six licences which
have been issued previously, could have the ability to make a significant
contribution towards the aim of storing 20-30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
(CO2) by 2030.
The areas being offered for licensing are off the coast of
Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lincolnshire in the Southern North Sea,
Central North Sea, Northern North Sea, and East Irish Sea and are made up of a
mixture of saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas field storage opportunities.
This round is envisaged to be the first of many as it is estimated
that as many as 100 CO2 stores could be required in order to meet the net zero by
2050 target.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published in
April 2022 emphasised the need for carbon capture and storage technologies to
be deployed to reach net zero emissions from power and industry sectors.