Prime Highlights :
- Spirit Energy’s MNZ Peak Cluster entered the carbon storage licence Assess Phase, moving closer to storing one billion tonnes of CO2 in depleted North Sea gas fields.
- The project is expected to deliver £1.8 billion to the UK economy by 2050 and safeguard over 13,000 jobs across three counties.
Key Facts :
- Spirit Energy is a Centrica business operating in the UK and the Netherlands, focused on energy production and transition projects.
- The MNZ Peak Cluster is the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project, targeting 40% of the UK’s cement and lime industry emissions.
Background :
Spirit Energy, a Centrica business, announced in the second week of June that its Morecambe Net Zero Peak Cluster development has entered the Assess Phase of its carbon storage licence, marking a major step towards decarbonising 40% of the UK’s cement and lime industry.
The North Sea Transition Authority confirmed Spirit’s entry into the Assess Phase of licence CS010, a crucial stage in preparing a permit application to store CO2 emissions in the depleted North and South Morecambe fields in the East Irish Sea, once gas production ceases by the end of the decade.
The milestone follows three years of work across Spirit’s technical and engineering teams, including new high-resolution 3D seismic acquisition covering a 500 sq km area offshore, five times the size of Paris, conducted by Shearwater Geoservices Ltd. The work conclusively demonstrated the fields’ suitability for storing approximately one billion tonnes of CO2.
Once operational, the MNZ Peak Cluster would transport three million tonnes of CO2 per year from four cement and lime plants in Derbyshire and Staffordshire to the depleted gas fields. The project is expected to deliver an economic boost of around £1.8 billion by 2050, create and safeguard over 13,000 jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Cumbria, and attract a further £5 billion in construction and operations investment.
Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said the project protects thousands of jobs, contributes billions to the UK economy, and cuts emissions at scale by repurposing existing Morecambe field infrastructure.
Matt Browell-Hook, Spirit Energy’s Director of Energy Transition, described it as the biggest cement decarbonisation project on the planet and potentially the largest offshore carbon store in the UK.