Northern Endurance Partnership confirms acquisition of proposed Humber onshore carbon capture pipelines
Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), of which Equinor is a partner, completes transfer of onshore Humber CO2 pipeline assets from National Grid Ventures (NGV).
NEP is now the developer for end-to end CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure which will serve the East Coast Cluster (ECC) and will undertake future consultation and engineering in line with next phase of CCUS cluster sequencing process, to be launched by UK Government from 2024.
The Humber’s decarbonisation ambitions have advanced with confirmation that the Northern Endurance Partnership is now the developer for the end-to-end onshore Humber CO2 pipelines which will link to the Endurance storage site and nearby expansion CO2 stores, enabling emissions reductions from sites across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
The Northern Endurance Partnership comprises bp, Equinor and TotalEnergies. NEP will own and operate (subject to final government approvals) the full end-to-end CO2 transport and storage system serving Teesside and the Humber, enabling the East Coast Cluster ambition to help decarbonise both regions.
During 2021 and 2022, National Grid Ventures (NGV), as part of the ECC, consulted on the Humber Low Carbon Pipelines between Easington in East Yorkshire and Drax in North Yorkshire, routed via Saltend Chemicals Park, Immingham and Keadby. In April 2023 NEP confirmed a change to its equity structure as bp and Equinor acquired the holdings of NGV and Shell, and that NEP had entered into commercial discussions to transfer the Humber onshore pipeline assets from NGV.
Following transfer of ownership, NEP will now progress the full work scope and undertake future consultation and engineering on the Humber onshore CO2 pipelines, which will offer energy intensive sites across the region the opportunity to capture their carbon emissions and transport them for safe storage under the southern North Sea. This infrastructure is important to achieving net zero in the UK’s most carbon intensive industrial region. The next phase of the process to select projects which could connect to this infrastructure is due to be launched by the Government from 2024.
Chris Daykin, NEP General Manager, said: “The onshore CO2 pipelines are essential to connect carbon intensive projects across the Humber to offshore storage and will play an important role in helping the region achieve net zero. The Northen Endurance Partnership is delighted to be moving forward in this venture which will provide further confidence for projects and stakeholders across the region as we prepare for the next phase of Government’s cluster sequencing process.”