Storegga Geotechnologies Ltd (Storegga), an independent UK company pioneering carbon reduction and removal for a net-zero world, has announced that GIC Pvt Ltd, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and Japan-headed Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a global trading and investment company, have become new investors in the company, alongside a further investment from the cornerstone investor, Macquarie Group Ltd.
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According to Storegga, it has the emerging asset base and the financial backing to become the UK’s leading independent carbon reduction and removal company. Global interest in the UK’s confirmed commitment to rapidly delivering carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the emission reduction technologies that it enables, has increased markedly over the last 12 months.
We are delighted that GIC and Mitsui are joining Macquarie as investors in Storegga. We welcome their vision and commitment to help deliver a net-zero future. The UK is emerging as a world leader in CCS and its associated low carbon technologies; today’s investment by these partners strengthens our ability to build a world-class CCS project and help the UK to pioneer this rapidly growing sector, commented Nick Cooper, CEO of Storegga.
Storegga aims to be at the forefront of the UK’s world-leading CCS and decarbonization ambitions and to help build a world-leading skills base for export and application across the globe.
As a new, independent, company in this sector, we bring a sharp commercial focus and ‘‘can do” attitude to our CO2 reduction and removal businesses. Our purpose is to drive the transition to a low carbon, and then no-carbon economy said Nick Cooper.
Scalable CCS project
Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pale Blue Dot Energy Ltd, Storegga is the lead developer of the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen Project (Acorn) based at St. Fergus, North East Scotland, and which is designated a European Project of Common Interest (PIC), providing essential infrastructure to help both the UK and Europe meet net-zero targets.
It is expected to be operational in the mid-2020s and has the potential to store at least half of the 10 million tonnes per annum of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage targetted by the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a green Industrial Revolution by 2030 announced in November 2020.
The Acorn Project is highly scaleable and overall has the potential to store 20 million tonnes per year or more of CO2 emissions by the mid-2030s, in a region that has been traditionally the home to a large proportion of the UK’s world-leading oil and gas skills base.
This major CO2 transportation and storage hub will be the enabler of a host of decarbonization opportunities including CO2 imports from across the UK and northwest Europe to Peterhead’s deepwater port, a possible repurposing of pipeline infrastructure to support the decarbonization of Scotland’s industrial central belt, large scale hydrogen generation and negative emission technologies including Direct Air Capture (DAC).
Storegga’s Acorn Project is on course to be one of the UK’s first large scale carbon sequestration projects and, as a business that has been active in the country’s energy market for many years, we see supporting businesses like Storegga as a key part of our own energy transition journey. “We are extremely excited to increase our support for this business and its projects, which we believe could provide a unique economic opportunity for Scotland and the wider UK. We look forward to working with two other world-class investors, GIC and Mitsui & Co, to make Storegga the UK’s leading independent carbon reduction and removal company, said Erik Petersson, Senior Managing Director in Macquarie’s Commodities and Global Markets group.
The funds raised, the amount of which has not been disclosed, will be used to progress Storegga’s funding of some of the wider aspects of the Acorn Project, Storegga’s plans for a UK-based DAC facility, and support ongoing business development activities by the company.
Work with Mitsui in Asia-Pacific
Along with these new investments, Storegga and Mitsui have entered into a non-exclusive agreement to initiate and progress further CCS opportunities in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region.
With Mitsui’s strong presence in the Asia-Pacific, this strategic cooperation will allow Storegga and Mitsui to pursue opportunities in the region, which Storegga expects will soon start to rapidly adopt CCS technology to meet the region’s climate commitments.
We will work closely with Storegga’s management team and help accelerate its vision and commitment by using our extensive knowledge of the energy sector and strong global networks. Mitsui believes providing low-carbon solutions to hard-to-abate industries such as energy will be critical in achieving net-zero carbon targets. Through the development of CCS projects globally, Mitsui will help create an eco-friendly society, commented Masaharu Okubo, Chief Operating Officer of the Energy Business Unit 1 at Mitsui & Co.
