North Sea offers CO2 storage potential, study claims

Sept. 18, 2012
A new report from Scottish Enterprise highlights the potential role of a carbon dioxide (CO2) storage hub in the UK central North Sea.

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – A new report from Scottish Enterprise highlights the potential role of a carbon dioxide (CO2) storage hub in the UK central North Sea.

The report also examines the potential to develop infrastructure and networks to capture, transport, and store CO2 from across Scotland, the UK, and continental Europe.

The potential storage hub could receive and store 100 MM metric tons/yr of CO2 by 2030 and 500 MM metric tons/yr by 2050 – equivalent to 25% of total EU emissions in 2007 – if all opportunities are exploited.

Locating the hub in the central North Sea would offer the advantages of possible re-use of significant lengths of existing subsea pipelines; offshore platforms for injection to depleted gas fields; and the building of new pipelines to link clusters of capture plants in both the power and industrial sectors to the storage assets.

The publication also highlights the potential for Peterhead Port, north of Aberdeen, as a key location for shipment of captured CO2 from other parts of the UK and Europe, and onward transportation to the storage sites of the central North Sea.

9/18/2012