Equinor, BP, TotalEnergies seal investment into Britain's carbon capture projects

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor alongside partners BP and TotalEnergies, have taken the final investment decision for two of the Britain's first carbon capture and storage projects in northern England, they said on Tuesday.

The three companies are joint partners in the Northern Endurance Partnership Project (NEP) which will permanently store up to an initial 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Equinor has a 45% stake in NEP, with BP also holding 45% and TotalEnergies the remaining 10%.

Equinor and BP also partner on the Net Zero Teeside Power project for a 742-megawatts (MW) gas-fired power plant with carbon capture, with BP owning 75% and Equinor 25%.

"It is a major milestone to have agreed Final Investment Decision and financial close on two of the UK's first carbon capture, transport and storage infrastructure projects," said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of Marketing, Midstream and Processing at Equinor.

The companies did not disclose the final investment figures, however.

Britain has a climate target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and has said carbon capture and storage will be needed to curb emissions from energy intensive industrial sectors.

In October the government committed up to 21.7 billion pounds for carbon capture and storage projects, which it hopes will help to reinvigorate the country's industrial regions and provide much needed investment and jobs.

"This investment launches a new era for clean energy in Britain – boosting energy security, backing industries and supporting thousands of highly skilled jobs in Teesside and the North East," Britain's Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a separate statement.

Work on the projects is set to begin in 2025, with the Net Zero Teesside Power project, a 742-megawatt power plant, estimated to deliver power to an estimated one million homes from 2028, the British government said.

The investments into the carbon capture and storage projects directly support 2,000 jobs in the north east of England, with tens of thousands more across Britain in the coming years, it added.

The companies are also planning to award 4 billion pounds ($5.1 billion) worth of supply chain contracts driving growth and investment into the region, it said.

($1 = 0.7857 pounds)

(Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Alex Richardson)