BP and Equinor awarded offshore carbon storage licences

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) "is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia". CCS is a pillar of the UK government's energy transition strategy, and the aim is to capture over 50 Mt per annum by 2035. 

In October 2021 the East Coast Cluster and HyNet were named as the first two CCS clusters to be deployed in the Government's cluster sequencing process. These sites are scheduled to be in operation by 2025. The HyNet storage sites will be located off the coast of North Wales and North-West England, and the East Coast Cluster storage sites will be located about 70 km off the coast of Humberside. 

The BP/Equinor licenses relate to four separate storage sites in the East Coast Cluster, and have been awarded by the North Sea Transition Authority. Equinor's 2022 Energy Transition Plan sets out their goal to reach net zero by 2050, and CCS is cited as an essential technology for achieving that ambition. 

The granting of these licenses is an important step towards the goal of achieving net zero, for the UK Government and for Equinor.

The UKIPO issued a report in November 2021 that provides a worldwide overview of patenting in relation to CCS. The report provides statistics on the number of active CCS patent families by priority date (i.e. first filing date) for each year from 2001 to 2018, worldwide and for the UK. Interestingly, whilst the worldwide filings increased every year across the whole date range, with an almost four-fold increase in filings from 2008 to 2018, the UK filings show a peak in 2010, with a general decreasing trend thereafter. It is to be hoped that the UK Government's new focus on CCS will result in a growth in UK-focused innovation in this area, and a corresponding increase in UK patenting.