Wintershall Dea Receives New Licence for Carbon Capture and Storage Project in the Southern North Sea

Wintershall Dea Receives New Licence for Carbon Capture and Storage Project in the Southern North Sea

(IN BRIEF) Wintershall Dea, a prominent player in the UK North Sea, has been granted a new licence by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to store CO2 beneath the seabed in the Camelot area. With an annual storage potential of up to 6 million tonnes, this license enhances the company’s efforts to become a leading gas and carbon management company. The Camelot project contributes significantly to the UK’s CO2 abatement potential and reinforces Wintershall Dea’s commitment to carbon capture and storage solutions in the North Sea. The license, which is shared with Synergia Energy, aligns with the British government’s focus on CCS as a key strategy to combat climate change and decarbonize industries.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON/KASSEL, 16-Aug-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — Wintershall Dea is intensifying its carbon capture and storage (CCS) activities in the Southern North Sea. The company has been awarded a new licence by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to store CO2 under the seabed. The Camelot licence’s annual storage potential is up to 6 million tonnes and provides a significant and valuable contribution to the CO2 abatement potential in the UK.

With ambitions to become a leading gas & carbon management company, Wintershall Dea views the award as an important steppingstone to access the UK’s CCS industry, and to develop Northwest Europe as a key region for carbon management technologies in the company’s portfolio.

“Wintershall Dea is among the leading CCS players in the North Sea with a total of four licences in three North Sea countries. With the Camelot project, we are once again reaffirming our intention to develop CO2 storage sites in the North Sea to deliver solutions to tackle climate change and decarbonise industries”, said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea’s Chief Technology Officer, and member of the Executive Board. “We are pleased to be maturing this project and thus adding another essential puzzle piece to a European CO2 infrastructure, utilizing our expertise from our CCS projects in Norway and Denmark,” he added.

The licence is for the Camelot area, which is a combination of depleted gas fields and an overlying saline aquifer. Wintershall Dea will hold a 50 per cent interest together with Synergia Energy, who will be project operator in the appraisal phase.

The work programme will be developed and managed by Wintershall Dea Carbon Management Solutions UK. The entity was established in August 2022 to assess and implement carbon management projects in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Wintershall Dea has been an active player in the UK North Sea for many years and is thus very familiar with the subsurface in the area. “With the extensive subsurface and operational expertise that we have gained over time, Wintershall Dea is well-equipped to contribute to developing these reservoirs to store CO2 potentially starting from 2030. This is a great success in this highly competitive environment”, said Matthias Pfeiffer, Country Lead CCS & Hydrogen UK at Wintershall Dea.

The British government has defined CCS as one of the main pillars to mitigate climate change and decarbonise the energy system as well as heavy and energy intensive industries. The NSTA announced that it would award over 100 licences on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in the next few years to fully exploit the offshore storage potential.

About Wintershall Dea

Wintershall Dea is transforming from the leading European independent gas and oil company to become a leading European independent gas and carbon management company. We have more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 11 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. And we develop carbon management and low carbon hydrogen projects to contribute to climate goals and secure energy supplies. More in our Annual Report.

As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU’s 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non-operated – by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. Wintershall Dea will also bring its methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025. We endorsed the World Bank’s Initiative ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ and continue to support the initiative aimed at eliminating routine flaring in operated assets by 2030. In addition, we plan to support global decarbonisation efforts by building up a carbon management and hydrogen business to potentially abate 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2040. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.

Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 people worldwide from almost 60 nations.

Media Contact:

ANTJE SCHÜNEMANN
Spokesperson Carbon Management & Hydrogen
+49 561 301-3301
press​@wintershalldea.com

SOURCE: Wintershall Dea AG