Perenco has completed the UK’s first carbon dioxide injection at its Poseidon carbon capture storage (CCS) project.
The firm kicked off the project’s CO2 injection test in February and has now reported its successful conclusion.
Perenco, along with Carbon Catalyst and Harbour Energy conducted the CO2 injection test from the ERDA rig, newly equipped with the injection test facilities.
Petrodec’s ERDA, the first rig in the UK to have achieved an approved safety case for CO2 injection support, has now sailed away from the Leman 27H platform.
There were a total of 15 injection cycles performed into the depleted Leman gas field, which mobilised 11 CO2 offshore batch refills.
The firm said that the test was completed without injection issues and that it collected valuable data throughout.
Perenco argued that the test proved that carbon “can be a reality for depleted fields of the Southern North Sea” and that it is possible to widely reuse North Sea production infrastructure to “unlock cost-effective projects”.
Armel Simondin, chief executive of Perenco, commented: “This test has met our expectations, both in terms of technical execution and the quality of data gathered.
“These insights are instrumental as we move to the next phase of developing the Poseidon Project.
“The successful test highlights the role our industry can play in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.
“The Perenco CCS team and our joint venture partners are now fully focused on interpreting the results and converting new insights into an evidence-based development plan for Project Poseidon.”
The Poseidon project will use the Leman field to store CO2, which will be delivered from the Bacton Gas Terminal on the East Anglian coast.
The project is expected to have a capacity of 935m tonnes of CO2, going from an injection rate of around 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) when pumping starts around 2030 before growing to 40mtpa.
