In early October there were two developments in North Sea CO₂ storage. Norway is adjusting the timelines for storage licences, and an offshore storage project in Liverpool Bay, UK, reached a major construction milestone. Both concern how offshore storage is matched with emitters.

1. Norway: more time for storage licences

Developing a CO₂ storage site is similar to an oil and gas field. The government issues a licence, and the developer must complete exploration, drilling and an investment decision under a work programme with deadlines.

EnergyWatch reported on 9 October that Norway's energy minister will give storage developers more time. In his view, new storage capacity is not needed until European emitters can supply CO₂.[1] The report also says Equinor wants to fill the Northern Lights site at Øygarden before moving to new projects. In September, Equinor asked for three more years before deciding on an exploration well for a North Sea storage project.[1][2]

Earlier, in March 2026, Norway's Ministry of Energy put amendments to the storage regulations out for consultation until 5 June. The draft would merge exploration and exploitation licences into a single licence covering exploration, development and operation, with milestones in the work programme at which the licensee decides whether to continue or surrender the licence.[3][4] The design is close to Norway's petroleum licensing system.

The background is the EU Net-Zero Industry Act, which requires the EU to have at least 50 million tonnes a year of CO₂ injection capacity by 2030. The EU also wants oil and gas producers to build large storage capacity.[1][5] Norway's approach is to let storage development keep pace with actual progress on capture projects.

A CO₂ receiving terminal on the Norwegian coast
A CO₂ receiving terminal on the Norwegian coast (AI-generated illustration)

2. UK: Douglas CCS platform installed

Eni CCUS Holding, a joint venture of Eni and Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock, announced on 8 October that the Douglas CCS platform in Liverpool Bay has been installed. Eni says it is the world's first offshore platform built specifically for CCS for industrial decarbonisation.[6]

The platform is the offshore hub of the Liverpool Bay CO₂ transport and storage system, the backbone of the HyNet industrial cluster in North West England. It will receive CO₂ captured at industrial sites in North West England and North Wales and send it through existing offshore pipelines, repurposed for CO₂, to depleted gas reservoirs for permanent storage.[6]

Key figures:[6][7]

  • Delivered in under 18 months from contract award.
  • A 1,885-tonne topside, a 1,755-tonne jacket and eight piles weighing 730 tonnes in total.
  • The whole Liverpool Bay CCS network is about 50% complete.
  • About 60% of project spending goes to UK supply chains, supporting over 2,000 construction jobs and about 200 to 300 long-term roles over more than 25 years of operation.

A timeline compiled by decarbonfuse shows first CO₂ injection expected in 2028.[8]

A repurposed pipeline carries CO₂ into a depleted gas field
A repurposed pipeline carries CO₂ into a depleted gas field (AI-generated illustration)

3. Directions Taiwan can consider

  • Licences with milestones: Norway's single licence with milestones lets developers advance in step with emitters while giving the government regular review points.
  • Reuse oil and gas assets: Liverpool Bay repurposes gas pipelines and uses depleted gas fields for storage. Taiwan can assess similar reuse of its developed offshore gas fields and pipelines.
  • Plan transport and storage by cluster: HyNet lets several emitters in one region share a single transport and storage system, an approach that suits Taiwan's coastal industrial zones.

For background, see ccs.tw's coverage of Germany's cross-border CO₂ storage, the opening of Yara Sluiskil and the Global Status of CCS report launch.

Several coastal emitters share one offshore hub
Several coastal emitters share one offshore hub (AI-generated illustration)

References

  1. EnergyWatch, Norway to give CO₂ storage developers more time as carbon capture stalls (2026-10-09). https://energywatch.com/EnergyNews/ccs/article19719788.ece
  2. EnergyWatch, Equinor asks for process extension on CO2 storage project in the North Sea (2026-09-04). https://energywatch.com/EnergyNews/Oil___Gas/article19611213.ece
  3. Norwegian Ministry of Energy, Høring – forslag til endringer i lagringsforskriften (2026-03-09). https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/horing-forslag-til-endringer-i-lagringsforskriften/id3151621/
  4. Thommessen, The Ministry of Energy proposes amendments to the Storage Regulations. https://www.thommessen.no/en/news/the-ministry-of-energy-proposes-amendments-to-the-storage-regulations
  5. ccs.tw, EU funding of about €120 million for pre-commercial CCS testing. https://ccs.tw/notes/eu-ccs-precommercial
  6. Eni, Eni CCUS Holding: Liverpool Bay CCS completes the installation of the world's first offshore platform dedicated to CO₂ transportation and storage (2026-10-08). https://www.eni.com/en-IT/media/press-release/2026/10/eni-ccus-holding-liverpool-bay-ccs.html
  7. Oil & Gas Journal, Eni CCUS Holding completes CCS platform installation (2026-10-08). https://www.ogj.com/energy-transition/news/55410615/eni-ccus-holding-completes-ccs-platform-installation
  8. decarbonfuse, Eni's Douglas Platform Sets the Offshore CCS Blueprint. https://decarbonfuse.com/posts/eni-s-douglas-platform-sets-the-offshore-ccs-blueprint