Eni and UK Government reach financial close for Liverpool Bay CCS project

Construction of the Liverpool Bay Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project is now underway, following financial close between Eni and the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

The announcement was made during the Summit on the Future of Energy Security, co-hosted by the UK Government and the International Energy Agency at Lancaster House in London. UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, and Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, marked the milestone together.

Eni is the operator for the carbon dioxide transport and storage system (T&S) for the HyNet industrial cluster, where Liverpool Bay CCS will act as the backbone of the network.

Financial close marks a major step forward for the project, enabling construction to begin and unlocking vital investment in the UK’s supply chain. Around 2,000 jobs are expected to be supported during the construction phase alone, with a significant proportion of contracts awarded to local suppliers.

This progress follows the UK Government’s commitment of £21.7 billion over 25 years to support the first two CCS clusters. The investment underlines the government’s long-term strategy to support decarbonisation, drive industrial growth, and cement the UK’s role as a global leader in clean energy.

Commenting on the announcement, Ed Miliband said:

Today we keep our promise to launch a whole new clean energy industry for our country – carbon capture and storage – to deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs and revitalise our industrial communities.

This investment from our partnership with Eni is government working together with industry to kickstart growth and back engineers, welders and electricians through our mission to become a clean energy superpower. We are making the UK energy secure so we can protect families and businesses and drive jobs through our Plan for Change.

IGEM CEO Oliver Lancaster said:

I was thrilled to hear about the approval of the Liverpool Bay CCS project last week, as announced by the Prime Minister. This is a crucial step for HyNet – one of the UK’s Track 1 industrial clusters – which will secure and grow jobs, and deliver infrastructure to store carbon from various emitting industries. It also provides a pathway for the production of low carbon hydrogen that’s key to decarbonisation across wider industry and to support the Clean Power 2030 Mission. Congratulations to IGEM’s Past President, David Parkin, for leading on this over the last 8.5 years – what a tremendous success!

The Liverpool Bay CCS project will capture and transport carbon dioxide from across North West England and North Wales. Using a mix of new and repurposed infrastructure, CO₂ will be permanently stored in Eni’s depleted offshore gas reservoirs beneath Liverpool Bay.