Britain launches second carbon capture licensing round

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Britain launched its second-ever carbon capture licensing round on Tuesday for 14 locations that could potentially store up to 2 gigatons of carbon dioxide, the North Sea Transition Authority regulator said.

Carbon capture technology can help to decarbonise industrial sites such as gas-fired power plants by filtering emissions before they reach the air and storing the CO2 in depleted oil and gas fields or other underground rock structures.

But making such projects commercially viable is difficult in the context of a fragmented carbon price landscape, typically leaving them dependent on government subsidies.

Britain awarded 21 carbon capture licenses in 2023. In terms of receiving actual permits to proceed towards CO2 injection, so far only two projects - Endurance and HyNet, which predate the 2023 licensing round - have reached that stage.

The new licensing round will run until March 24, 2026, the NSTA said, adding licensing would likely be awarded in early 2027.

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Andrea Ricci )