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The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA, Aberdeen, U.K.) has awarded three carbon storage permits to energy company Eni SpA (Rome, Italy) for Liverpool Bay CCS, the CO₂ transportation and storage system which will serve the HyNet industrial cluster.

HyNet is a U.K. project that aims to decarbonize the North West of England and North Wales through the use of hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) technologies. HyNet will upgrade existing infrastructure, as well as the develop new infrastructure. This includes underground pipelines, hydrogen production plants and storage facilities.

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Phase one of HyNet is designed to store 109 million tonnes of CO₂ in the East Irish Sea over 25 years — the equivalent of taking 60.1 million cars off the road for a year.

The awarded permits enable Eni start preparing the stores for the initial injection of 4.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year starting as soon as mid-2028. They were issued alongside the economic license awarded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Carbon storage is a vital cog in the U.K.’s clean energy future and the NSTA is playing a major role in ensuring the sector reaches its full potential. The NSTA awarded its first-ever carbon storage permit to the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) for a site in the Southern North Sea in December 2024. The regulator also launched a large-scale carbon storage licensing round in 2022, resulting in .

HyNet will be served by a combination of new infrastructure and existing infrastructure which will be repurposed for carbon transportation and storage. In total, more than 90 miles of offshore and onshore pipeline will be given a new lease of life, delivering substantial cost savings and cutting the environmental impact associated with the construction, transportation and installation of new kit.

A new platform will be installed at the Douglas field to receive CO₂ from the Point of Ayr Gas Terminal in Flintshire, Wales. From there, the CO₂ will be transported onward to the Hamilton, Hamilton North and Lennox depleted oil and gas reservoirs operated by Eni in Liverpool Bay, for permanent storage.

“Thanks to the North Sea, we have one of the greatest carbon storage potentials of any country,” says energy secretary Ed Miliband.