UK-based oil and gas firm Spirit Energy has awarded a contract to Shearwater Geoservices to conduct a seismic survey in the East Irish Sea, as part of the Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ) carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
The six-week operation is scheduled for the summer of 2024 and will be Shearwater’s fifth CCS survey in the last two years.
It relates to Spirit Energy’s recent carbon storage license received from the UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in May 2023, and the acquired data will support all subsequent models and mapping for CCS initiatives.
The license is a key step forward in transforming the North and South Morecambe gas fields into permanent, safe, and secure carbon storage, supporting the United Kingdom’s net zero ambition to capture and store over 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2035.
The survey will acquire and process around 500 square kilometers of high-resolution 3D seismic data over the Morecambe Bay gas fields to provide the detailed definition of the potential carbon storage sites.
"This achievement marks a pivotal point in our MNZ journey. We are progressing very well against our carbon storage license commitments and utilizing advanced technical approaches to further expand our 40-year operational knowledge of our East Irish Sea assets is another crucial step towards our goal of at scale, commercial carbon storage by 2030,” said Matt Browell-Hook, Spirit Energy’s Energy Transition Director and MNZ project lead.
"CCS has been identified as a key mitigation measure for climate change but deployment at scale remains the challenge. We are leveraging our expertise and our marine seismic technology to meet this challenge in order to build a more sustainable future,” added Tanya Herwanger, SVP Strategy and New Markets of Shearwater.
MNZ has the potential to be one of the largest carbon stores in the UK and Europe, offering industrial emitters a world-leading decarbonization solution.