Harbour Energy today Friday 15 September announced it has been awarded four carbon storage licences by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) as part of the UK's recent CO2 storage licensing round.

Harbour, as operator of the Humber-based Viking CCS CO2 transportation and storage network together with its non-operating partner bp, have been awarded two licences located adjacent and to the west of the existing Viking CCS carbon storage licence in the Southern North Sea.

Early estimates indicate the additional licences have the potential to increase the total storage capacity of Viking by over 50%.

Harbour also today welcomed news that the Acorn CCS project in north east Scotland had also been awarded two additional storage licences. Harbour has a 30 per cent non-operated interest in Acorn, which is operated by lead developer Storegga.

Steve Cox, Harbour Energy Executive Vice President of Net Zero and CCS, said:

"The award of these new licences is another important step forward to help scale up our carbon capture, transportation and storage plans in the UK, and another demonstration of the valuable role the oil and gas sector can bring to the development of this nascent industry.

"The potential for additional storage capacity could play a vital role in supporting the UK to meet its net zero goals while also creating thousands of skilled British jobs."

Notes to editors

Viking CCS is operated by Harbour with a 60 per cent interest, with bp recently acquiring a 40 per cent non-operated share, and the current Viking CCS licence has an initial storage capacity of 300 million tonnes, which has been independently verified and assured.

The NSTA offer of awards of licences were made under their first carbon storage licensing round. https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/news-publications/news/2023/huge-net-zero-boost-as-20-carbon-storage-licences-offered-for-award/

A report published in March 2023, 'Viking CCS, transforming the Humber into a net zero SuperPlace', outlined the economic benefits of Viking CCS and can be viewed at www.vikingccs.co.uk

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Harbour Energy plc published this content on 15 September 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 September 2023 08:12:05 UTC.