Spirit Energy, a Centrica business, today announced the Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ) Peak Cluster development - the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project - has achieved a major milestone that brings the decarbonisation of 40 percent of the UK’s vital cement and lime industry a step closer, securing thousands of industrial jobs and contributing to the shift towards cleaner, more sustainable industry.
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) confirmed Spirt has successfully entered the ‘Assess Phase’ of its carbon storage licence (CS010), a crucial step towards preparing a permit application to safely lock away CO2 emissions in the depleted North and South Morecambe fields in the East Irish Sea, once gas production ceases by the end of the decade.
It follows three years of intense work from Spirit’s subsurface, wells, projects, HSE, commercial and engineering teams, including new high resolution 3D seismic acquisition and advanced 3D seismic imaging of the Morecambe fields to conclusively demonstrate their suitability for storing approximately one billion tonnes of CO2. The seismic acquisition, carried out by Shearwater Geoservices Ltd, covered a 500 square kilometres area offshore, five times the size of Paris.
Working with its Peak Cluster partners, MNZ Peak Cluster would safely transport three million tonnes of CO2 per year from four cement and lime plants within Derbyshire and Staffordshire to the depleted gas fields. As well as preventing the CO2 from entering the atmosphere, MNZ Peak Cluster would provide a UK economic boost of about £1.8bn by 2050, creating and safeguarding more than 13,000 jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria, and attracting a further £5bn investment in construction and operations work.
Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said: “This takes us another step closer to delivering one of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects, protecting 13,000 jobs and contributing billions of pounds to the UK economy while cutting emissions at scale. By repurposing the Morecambe fields for carbon storage, we can put existing infrastructure to work again, helping secure the future of essential British industry while making real progress towards net zero.”
Spirit Energy’s Director of Energy Transition, Decommissioning and Projects, Matt Browell-Hook, said reaching the advanced stage was a major achievement for the MNZ team and its shareholders, adding: “The sheer scale of the project is enormous and the numbers speak for themselves - the biggest cement decarbonisation project on the planet, the first CCS development to secure investment from the National Wealth Fund and potentially the largest offshore carbon store in the UK. It sets the standard for CCS projects in this country by decarbonising and thereby securing a long-term future for the people working in traditional industrial sectors which produce low carbon materials, vital for the UK’s growth and development and a hugely sought-after material for export.
“It also demonstrates how the energy transition can and should work. For more than four decades, the Morecambe fields have supported UK energy security by supplying natural gas to keep tens of millions of homes warm. By repurposing those very same fields through MNZ, we’ll safely, securely lock away millions of tonnes of CO2 for geological time and protect thousands of highly skilled UK jobs.”
David Parkin, CEO of Peak Cluster Limited, said “This announcement marks a significant milestone for the MNZ Peak Cluster project and demonstrates significant progress towards the long-term solution needed to help secure the future of a vital foundation UK industrial sector which we all rely on. Together, Spirit Energy and Peak Cluster are developing a world-leading project that will support jobs, unlock investment and substantially reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into our atmosphere.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Learn more about the Spirit Energy-operated Morecambe Hub here and our MNZ project here.
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Gavin Roberts
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About Spirit Energy
We are a pioneering energy company with two shareholders: Centrica plc (69%), and Stadtwerke München GmbH SWM (31%). We operate in the UK and the Netherlands, with a 550-strong team, and 18 producing field interests.
Our portfolio and ambitions span the breadth of the energy transition. We’re continuing to break new ground, collaborating, and thinking differently. Our strategy is focused on safely delivering production from our existing assets; meeting and de-risking our decommissioning obligations and pursuing strategic energy transition opportunities from our existing assets.
We’re proud of our heritage. With more than 40 years of production, we’re maximising the potential of our existing assets and substantial gas reserves in the UK and Netherlands. Above all, we live by our commitment to safety in everything we do. Our portfolio is predominantly gas (96%), providing vital, primary energy to fuel our homes and businesses in the UK and Europe.