Eni UK has signed 19 MoUs with companies interested in having their emissions captured, transported and stored in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs under the sea.
HyNet North West wants to unlock a low carbon future for North Wales and the North West of England using hydrogen, creating routes for industry to rapidly decarbonise their production.
Waste CO2 would be pumped - via Point of Ayr terminal - into oil and gas fields in Liverpool Bay.
Eni UK said that it had 19 MoUs (memorandums of understanding) - "demonstrating the outstanding interest" that UK industry has shown for the decarbonisation potential offered by the HyNet project.
A spokesperson said: "Once operational, the HyNet North West project will transform one of the most energy-intensive industrial districts in the UK into the world’s first low carbon industrial cluster.
"In particular the project will provide important support to the UK's decarbonisation process by contributing 100% to the 10 million tons per year of CO 2 storage capacity and 80% to the 5GW of low carbon hydrogen Government’s UK-wide targets set for 2030.
"The agreements signed to date include hard-to-abate sectors and will play a crucial role enabling decarbonisation initiatives in the North West of England and North Wales industrial cluster."
In October 2020, Eni UK was awarded a CO2 appraisal and storage license in Liverpool Bay to develop a CO2 storage site and in October 2021 the HyNet North West Cluster has been selected by the UK Government as one of the two priority projects (Track 1 projects) out of five competing in the CCUS Cluster Sequencing Process.
