Equinor, BP, TotalEnergies Invest in UK Carbon Capture

Equinor and its project partners have achieved financial close and taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) to move forward with two of the UK’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives in Teesside: the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power). These landmark projects aim to decarbonize one of the UK’s most carbon-intensive regions, supported by collaboration between the industry and the UK Government.

NEP, where Equinor holds a 45% stake alongside bp (45%) and TotalEnergies (10%), will serve as the CO2 transportation and storage provider for the East Coast Cluster (ECC), a UK Government-selected CCS hub. Construction is set to begin in mid-2025, with operations targeted for 2028. The project includes a CO2 gathering network, onshore compression facilities, and a 145km offshore pipeline to transport captured emissions to the Endurance saline aquifer, located approximately 1,000 meters beneath the seabed. Initially capable of handling up to 4 million tonnes of CO2 annually from three Teesside projects, NEP plans to expand capacity to an average of 23 million tonnes per year by 2035.

In addition to NEP, Equinor is a key partner in NZT Power, a new gas-fired power plant with integrated carbon capture technology. The facility will generate up to 742 megawatts of flexible, decarbonized power—enough to meet the electricity needs of around 1 million UK homes. The plant will capture up to 2 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which will be transported and stored by NEP, advancing decarbonization in the northeast of England’s industrial regions.

The projects collectively represent an investment of approximately £4 billion and are expected to create thousands of jobs while delivering significant socio-economic benefits to the region. Building work will be carried out by nine leading engineering, procurement, and construction contractors. Beyond Teesside, NEP has also secured government approval to progress development engineering for the Humber Carbon Capture Pipeline, which will transport CO2 from future CCS projects in the Humber region.

Equinor’s UK Country Manager, Alex Grant, emphasized the company’s commitment to helping the UK achieve its net-zero goals, noting that these projects align with Equinor’s ambition to reduce operated emissions by 50% and allocate half of its capital expenditures to low-carbon technologies by 2030. The company aims to develop 30-50 million tonnes per annum of CO2 transport and storage capacity by 2035.

With over four decades of energy provision to the UK, Equinor supplies more than 25% of the country’s natural gas and is a partner in Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. These initiatives reinforce Equinor’s pivotal role in transitioning the UK toward a low-carbon future.