INEOS Launches EU's First Full-Scale Commercial CO2 Storage Site in the North Sea
INEOS's Greensand launch on Friday (2026-09-18) gives European CCUS its first commercial-scale proof point as UK North Sea storage projects advance through drilling and licensing phases.
INEOS opened what it called the European Union's first full-scale commercial CO2 storage site in Denmark on Friday (2026-09-18), bringing the Greensand project into operation after years in which the CCUS industry promised scale without delivering it.6
The gap between a demonstration facility and commercial-scale operation matters for European industrial emitters, who need reliable long-term CO2 disposal routes before committing capital to capture equipment. Greensand, in the Danish North Sea, is the first storage site in the EU to clear that threshold. Without storage offtake, capture-side investment stalls.6
Across the basin in UK waters, the development pipeline is advancing through its own milestones. The Northern Endurance Partnership, which provides pipeline and storage infrastructure for the East Coast Cluster, confirmed in June (2026-06-11) that its first exploration well in the Southern North Sea had found strong potential for further storage capacity, with a second well being drilled. The results will shape the storage capacity available to the cluster, which is designed to handle CO2 from heavy industry across the North East of England.3
The UK government committed £21.7 billion to HyNet in the North West and the East Coast Cluster in the North East under the Track 1 cluster programme. Track 2 followed with a £9.4 billion package backing Viking in the Southern North Sea and Acorn in Scotland.2
HyNet plans to store captured emissions in depleted hydrocarbon fields in the Irish Sea at up to 4.5 million metric tons per annum. Eni holds the Bacton licence at the depleted Hewett gas field in the North Sea, where it estimates storage capacity of around 300 million metric tons.1
The Eni-BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners CCUS joint venture secured more than EUR 500 million ($582 million) from 13 international lenders in May (2026-05-26). The raise covered existing and pipeline projects across Eni's CCUS portfolio and provided the kind of institutional debt backing that smaller developers have struggled to replicate.1
In the North West, Centrica's Spirit Energy unit moved the Morecambe Net Zero Peak Cluster into its second development phase with the North Sea Transition Authority in June (2026-06-09), working toward a carbon storage licence. Spirit Energy describes the scheme as the world's largest cement decarbonisation project, targeting 40% of UK cement and lime industry emissions. The Treasury confirmed £31 million in private sector backing, and the project is the National Wealth Fund's first investment in carbon capture since Rachel Reeves identified the sector as a priority in March 2025.2
The NSTA said in July (2026-07-30) that analysis by DNV had given the industry a significant boost by finding that existing North Sea assets could be repurposed for CCUS, with potential to reduce capital expenditure and shorten project timelines across emerging storage value chains.4
Yet the sector's persistent constraint has not been geological or technical. A review by oilprice.com in August (2026-08-17) noted that recent project cancellations traced to financing structures and revenue certainty rather than technical underperformance — solvents work, CO2 compression is established, and storage security is not in dispute.5
UK Carbon allowances traded at £59.25 per tonne CO2 as of Friday (2026-09-18). Commercial storage needs long-term offtake priced above the combined cost of capture, transport and injection; how Greensand prices its first contracts, once disclosed, will offer the first market reference for what CO2 disposal in the North Sea actually costs at scale.6