Eni CCUS Holding, a joint venture between Italian energy group Eni and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of BlackRock, has completed the offshore installation of the Douglas CCS platform in Liverpool Bay.
The installation marks a major milestone for the Liverpool Bay carbon capture and storage (CCS) transportation and infrastructure network, which serves as the core carbon storage backbone for the UK’s HyNet industrial decarbonisation cluster in North West England and North Wales.
The newly installed Douglas CCS structure represents the world’s first purpose-built offshore platform dedicated specifically to industrial carbon capture and permanent geological storage.
Operating as the offshore gathering hub for the Liverpool Bay system, the facility will collect captured industrial carbon dioxide emissions and route them through repurposed subsea pipelines for permanent sequestration into depleted natural gas reservoirs.
Key engineering and operational metrics for the project include:
- Structural specifications: The offshore structure comprises an 1,885-tonne topside facility, a 1,755-tonne supporting jacket, and eight foundation seabed piles with a combined weight of 730 tonnes.
- Rapid delivery timeline: Engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning phases were completed in under 18 months from initial contract award.
- Network progress: Overall construction across the Liverpool Bay CCS system has reached approximately 50 per cent completion.
- Economic & supply chain impact: Approximately 60 per cent of total project capital expenditure is routed through UK supply chains, supporting more than 2,000 construction jobs and 200 to 300 long-term operational roles spanning over 25 years.
The combination of new purpose-built offshore structures and repurposed legacy natural gas assets allows the project to lower development costs while utilizing decades of subsurface reservoir data.
Liverpool Bay CCS forms a core asset within Eni CCUS Holding’s portfolio as the group expands commercial carbon transportation and storage infrastructure across Europe to support hard-to-abate heavy industries in meeting net-zero targets.
