Eni, UK government reach financial close for Liverpool Bay CCS project

Eni has reached financial close with the UK Government’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for the Liverpool Bay CCS project, where Eni is the operator of the CO₂ transport and storage system (T&S) of the HyNet industrial Cluster.

The financial close allows the Liverpool Bay CCS project to move into the construction phase, unlocking key investments in supply chain contracts, the majority of which will be spent locally. The project will support the UK’s industrial competitiveness for the long term, by safeguarding existing industrial employment and creating new production chains and jobs – which, in the construction phase alone, are estimated to be about 2,000 people.

This significant milestone follows the UK Government’s funding allocation of £21.7 billion to be invested over a 25-year period across the first two CCS Clusters in the country. This decision demonstrates the UK’s commitment to prioritizing the development of the CCS sector as a key lever in its decarbonization and industrial strategy, in line with the broader UK’s objective of creating growth opportunities in the country’s industrial heartlands and the ambition to be a global leader in the energy transition.

“This investment from our partnership with Eni is government working together with industry to kickstart growth and back engineers, welders and electricians through our mission to become a clean energy superpower,” said the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband. “We are making the UK energy secure so we can protect families and businesses and drive jobs through our Plan for Change.”

“The strategic agreement with the UK Government paves the way for the industrial-scale development of CCS, a sector in which the United Kingdom reaffirms its leadership thanks to the promotion of a regulatory framework that aims to strengthen the development of CCS and make it fully competitive in the market,” added Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi. “Eni has established itself as a leading operator in the UK thanks to its key role in CO₂ transport and storage activities as the leader of the HyNet Consortium, which will become one of the first low-carbon clusters in the world.”

The Liverpool Bay CCS project will operate as the backbone of the HyNet Cluster to transport carbon dioxide from capture plants across the North West of England and North Wales through new and repurposed infrastructure to safe and permanent storage in Eni’s depleted natural gas reservoirs, located under the seabed in Liverpool Bay. The project itself foresees the efficient repurposing of part of the offshore platforms as well as 149km of onshore and offshore pipelines, and the construction of 35km of new pipelines to connect industrial emitters to the Liverpool Bay CCS network.

Eni believes that CCS will play a crucial role in the energy transition and can become an important strategic activity to support the company’s decarbonization ambitions. The Company has a range of global initiatives in the CCS sector with a gross storage capacity of approximately 3 billion tons.