Harbour Energy and bp agree to develop the Viking CCS project in the North Sea

In a statement, Harbour Energy said: “Located close to the heavily industrialised Humber region, Viking CCS has the potential to meet one third of the UK Government’s target to capture and store up to 30 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. The announcement follows the Government’s recent decision to launch Track 2 of its CCS cluster sequencing process, and its recognition that Viking CCS is one of two leading transport and storage system contenders for this process.”

“The delivery of the Viking project could be transformational for the region, potentially unlocking up to £7bn of investment across the full CO2 capture, transport, and storage value chain over the next decade, creating more than 10,000 jobs during construction, and providing an estimated £4bn of gross value add (GVA) to the Humber and its surrounding areas.”

Harbour and bp already share an interest in the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS) pipeline which is intended to be repurposed as part of the project.

The statement added: “This provides a unique, low-cost opportunity to connect customers to the depleted Viking gas fields, which recently had their 300m tonnes of CO2 storage capacity independently verified.

“Viking CCS also has access to a planned new CO2 shipping terminal at Associated British Ports’ Port of Immingham, with the potential for shipped CO2 from dispersed emitters elsewhere in the UK and internationally to be transported for permanent storage within the Viking fields.”

Subject to the outcome of the Track 2 Cluster Sequencing Process, a final investment decision is expected in 2024. The project could be operational as early as 2027 and potentially storing up to 10m tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.

Linda Z Cook, CEO of Harbour Energy, commented: “We welcome the UK government’s recent announcement about the launch of Track 2 and the addition of bp as a partner to this transformational project. Viking CCS has the potential to unlock billions of pounds of investment across the full CCS value chain and is crucial for the UK to meet its emissions reduction targets.”

Anja Dotzenrath, Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy bp, said: “We’re extremely excited to be joining Viking CCS, a project which can play an instrumental role in helping to decarbonise the UK and providing CO2 transport and storage as a service to emitters across industry sectors and geographies, including as a future CO2 shipping destination.”