Stanlow Terminals and Eni UK sign a MOU to develop carbon dioxide transport and storage projects

Stanlow Terminals Ltd (“Stanlow Terminals”), the UK’s largest independent bulk liquid storage provider has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Eni UK Ltd (“Eni UK”), the UK subsidiary of global energy company Eni, to explore the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) collection, shipping, and storage at the Stanlow Terminal location and then delivering the received CO2 into Eni UK’s carbon transport and storage infrastructures currently being developed in the NW region of the UK.

Stanlow Terminals and Eni UK will evaluate opportunities to establish an open-access CO2 transport and storage terminal which will be capable of receiving, gathering and storing CO2 from industrial emitters and other sources via shipping from dispersed locations. The objective is to ultimately connect multiple emitters with Eni UK’s licenced storage location through an open access system, facilitating the future sequestration of substantial volumes of CO2.

Developing CO2 ship transportation will play a significant role in the expansion of CCS infrastructure, by offering feasible and flexible routes between sources and storage sites. The infrastructure would provide many more industrial companies the opportunity to transport captured CO2 for storage in depleted gas fields.

The agreement follows Stanlow Terminal’s announcement of plans to also develop open access green ammonia facilities on the River Mersey, supporting the ambition of Essar Energy Transition to become Europe’s leading integrated energy transition hub.

Stanlow Terminals is part of Essar Energy Transition (“EET”). Launched in February 2023, EET is investing US$3.6 billion in developing a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years, of which US$2.4 billion will be invested at its sites in the North West of England.

EET will include Essar Oil UK, the company’s refining and marketing business in North West England; Vertex Hydrogen, which is developing 1 gigawatt (GW) of blue hydrogen for the UK market, with follow-on capacity set to reach 3.8GW;

EET Hydrogen India, which is developing 1 GW of green ammonia in India, targeted at UK and international markets; Stanlow Terminals Ltd, which is developing enabling storage and pipeline infrastructure; and EET Biofuels, which is investing in developing 1 MT of low carbon biofuels. EET’s investment programme will play a major role in accelerating the UK’s low carbon transformation, supporting the government’s decarbonisation policy and creating highly skilled employment opportunities at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse economy.

Eni UK is leading the development of carbon dioxide transport and storage for the HyNet North West consortium in the North West of the UK, which will transform one of the country’s most energy intensive industrial districts into the first low-carbon industrial cluster in the world. Eni UK has developed extensive experience in reservoir management over many decades and intends to apply its skills to repurpose part of its existing upstream assets to store carbon dioxide in depleted fields in Liverpool Bay, helping the UK to achieve its net zero targets by decarbonising industrial activities in the region quickly and at a competitive cost.