The UK North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has on 9 December 2025 opened a carbon storage licensing round offering 14 locations in Scottish and English waters for exploration and appraisal. Application deadline is 24 March 2026, and licences are expected to be awarded in early 2027.
The areas fall into two broad categories – depleted hydrocarbon fields selected by the NSTA and saline aquifer sites identified following a ‘Call for Nominations’ earlier this year. Five areas will be in Scottish waters, with nine off the coast of England. Successful applicants for a carbon storage licence from the NSTA will require a seabed agreement from either Crown Estate Scotland or The Crown Estate in English waters, before a project can progress.
Gus Jaspert, managing director, marine at The Crown Estate, said: “We have worked with the NSTA to ensure the interests of other vital sectors including offshore wind, aggregates, cables and nature were considered.”
The UK’s first carbon storage licensing round in September 2023 awarded 21 carbon storage licences. The NSTA subsequently awarded the first storage permits to two projects – Endurance and HyNet – allowing them to proceed towards first injection. The Endurance site, off the coast of Teesside, which could store up to 100 million tonnes of CO2, received a permit in December 2024, and Liverpool Bay-based HyNet, which could also store up to 100 mt CO2 over 25 years, received three permits in April 2025. The projects, funded from the UK’s government’s commitment of up £21.7 billion, could contribute around £5 billion per year of gross value to the UK economy by 2050 and create 50,000 jobs long-term.
Photo courtesy of S&P Global Energy
