North Sea CCS and Hydrogen Scale-Up Hinges on Policy Clarity, OEUK Says
Transparent cross-border rules, stronger policy coordination, and improved investor confidence are needed to unlock large-scale carbon capture, storage, and hydrogen infrastructure in the North Sea, Offshore Energies UK said in a report on Wednesday.The study, produced by DNV, said that progress on decarbonization technologies could stall unless Europe treats the North Sea as a single, integrated energy system rather than a series of national projects.OEUK said that coordinated development across the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France will be essential to ensure affordability, resilience, and the viability of long-term investment."The UK and Norway are well placed to become long-term carbon dioxide storage providers for Europe," said Laura Moyle, CCS and carbon markets manager at OEUK.Moyle pointed to the UK Southern North Sea as a potential cost-competitive hub for industrial clusters in north-west Europe, supported by decades of oil and gas expertise, offshore infrastructure, and geology.OEUK said the sector is entering a scale-up phase, but warned that transport and storage capacity are currently advancing faster than carbon capture projects. It added that the UK Continental Shelf could store around 70 billion tons of carbon dioxide, though it said this advantage could narrow as demand accelerates.The trade association projected that without additional storage licensing and development, capture volumes could match or exceed planned injection capacity in the UK by the mid-to-late 2040s, raising the risk of bottlenecks.The report also stressed that CCS and hydrogen transport projects are highly capital-intensive, with expected payback periods of 20 to 30 years, underscoring the need for stable regulatory frameworks and long-term policy certainty to attract investment.Meanwhile, a parallel study by energy consultancy Xodus Group on cross-border carbon dioxide transport infrastructure found that the North Sea region is expected to handle the largest share of European carbon dioxide flows over the coming decades.Xodus Group forecasted that cross-border transport volumes will surge from about 18 million tons per year in 2030 to 36 million tons per year by 2050, driven by industrial decarbonization needs across Europe.The report also highlighted the importance of designing hydrogen networks for future cross-border integration from the outset, drawing on lessons from natural gas systems to avoid costly retrofits and improve system balancing and storage.OEUK said it had also updated guidance on well decommissioning and legacy well assessment for carbon dioxide storage, aimed at helping operators ensure the integrity of depleted reservoirs being converted into carbon storage sites.
