The UK’s industrial decarbonisation drive has reached a major milestone with the successful installation of the Douglas CCS platform in Liverpool Bay — the world’s first purpose-built offshore platform dedicated to carbon capture and storage (CCS) for industrial decarbonisation.

 

Eni CCUS Holding, jointly owned by Eni and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of BlackRock, announced the completion of the installation, advancing the Liverpool Bay carbon dioxide transportation and storage (T&S) project. The infrastructure forms the backbone of the HyNet industrial decarbonisation cluster, serving industrial sites across North West England and North Wales.

 

Designed as the offshore hub of the Liverpool Bay T&S system, Douglas CCS will receive CO₂ captured from industrial facilities before routing it through a network of existing offshore pipelines, repurposed to transport the gas to depleted natural gas reservoirs for permanent storage.

 

The platform was delivered in less than 18 months from contract award, following an accelerated programme that integrated engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning.

 

The installation comprises a 1,885-tonne topside, a 1,755-tonne supporting jacket structure and eight foundation piles weighing a combined 730 tonnes, anchoring the platform to the seabed.

 

The project combines new-build infrastructure with the reuse of existing offshore assets, allowing it to draw on established pipeline networks and extensive knowledge of depleted gas reservoirs.

 

The installation marks a key step in a broader construction programme across the Liverpool Bay CCS network, which is now approximately 50% complete.

 

The project is also expected to deliver significant economic benefits in the UK. Around 60% of total project expenditure is being channelled through UK-based supply chains, supporting more than 2,000 jobs during construction and an estimated 200 to 300 long-term roles over more than 25 years of operation.

 

Liverpool Bay CCS is a central project in Eni CCUS Holding’s wider strategy to develop carbon dioxide transportation and storage infrastructure at scale, helping industries reduce emissions where decarbonisation remains particularly challenging.

 

Carbon capture and storage is increasingly positioned as a tool for cutting emissions from hard-to-abate industrial sectors, where reducing reliance on fossil fuels and switching to alternative technologies alone may not be sufficient to achieve deep emissions reductions.

 

With the Douglas CCS platform now installed and the wider network progressing, Liverpool Bay is moving closer to establishing the offshore infrastructure needed to transport and permanently store industrial CO₂ at scale.