Stanlow oil refinery operator Essar reveals plans for a carbon capture and storage facility and possible Irish Sea pipeline at Tranmere oil terminal in Birkenhead as part of £2.2bn net zero drive. Tony McDonough reports

Oil giant Essar is looking to expand its carbon capture and storage ambitions with a new facility on the River Mersey at Birkenhead.

This new hub, based at Essar’s Tranmere oil terminal, would offer storage for captured CO2 from other industrial facilities that would arrive by ship. The CO2 would then be transported via a new pipeline to be stored in depleted gas fields under Morecambe Bay.

As part of a £2.2bn  plan to decarbonise its operations, Essar is already going ahead with a carbon capture and storage hub at its huge Stanlow oil refinery at Ellesmere Port.

CO2 captured as part of the refinery operations is to be piped out via Cheshire and North Wales to be stored permanently in depleted gas fields under Liverpool Bay.

Stanlow is also the location for the multi-billion pound HyNet hydrogen hub. This would see hydrogen produced for industrial use by burning natural gas and capturing the CO2 and sending it to Liverpool Bay.

Carbon capture and storage remains a controversial method with some experts claiming it is not effective at scale.

This new plan, announced on Monday, has seen a new collaboration agreement between Essar subsidiary Stanlow Terminals (STL), which operates the Tranmere site, Spirit Energy, which is overseeing the storage at Morecambe Bay, and Progressive Energy which is leading the HyNet project.

Tranmere’s main function currently is as an import terminal for crude oil. Supertankers arrive at the terminal and unload the crude which is then transported by pipeline to Stanlow for refining. There are also plans for a green ammonia terminal at the site.

This new agreement will see the three partners assess the joint business case and development planning feasibility of a CO2 shipping import terminal at Tranmere and at Stanlow.

They will also assess the opportunity to transport CO2 volumes received via the new STL shipping import terminal to Spirit Energy’s Morecambe carbon store in the east Irish Sea. There is no detail as yet as to the route this pipeline would take.

Wirral residents are already unhappy at plans to run the end of a 200km carbon dioxide pipe through the borough. The Peak Cluster project will take carbon dioxide emissions from cement and lime producers in the Peak District and store them under the Irish Sea.

Mike Gaynon, chief executive of Stanlow Terminals, said of the latest plan: “It brings together the right partners with the right expertise to open up new opportunities for CO2 movement and storage and drives forward Stanlow’s broader decarbonisation ambitions.

“This work has the potential to strengthen the region’s industrial future, and we’re excited to work with our partners on this project.”

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Matt Browell-Hook, energy transition, decommissioning and projects director of Spirit Energy said that although carbon capture and storage “is not the only answer to net zero 2050” it is a “key enabler to decarbonise industry in the UK”.

He added: “We are progressing with MNZ – one of the largest offshore carbon stores in the world. Partnerships such as these are crucial to deliver the goals of industrial decarbonisation, protecting existing jobs and boost economic growth in the UK.”