Wintershall Dea awarded first CCS Licence in the United Kingdom

• Anticipated annual storage potential of up to 6 million tonnes of CO₂ in the Camelot licence
• Project will help UK to reach its ambitious net zero targets and support local economy

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.