Wood sees growth in CCUS linked to decarbonisation imperative

Wood has strengthened its position across the Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) value chain through a series of new wins in the first half of 2021.

As clients focus on aligning their operations to support a net-zero future, Wood has secured more than 20 individual CCUS related contracts since the beginning of the year to accelerate decarbonisation and emissions reduction activities.

Wood anticipates continued growth in this space, with circa $500m worth of potential CCUS projects coming to market in the medium term, highlighting the important role this technology will play in delivering a low-carbon energy system.

Among the contract wins, Wood is delivering decarbonisation solutions for the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project in the United States which will allow the capture and permanent storage of up to 10 million tons of CO2 annually.

Wood is also supporting the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the Acorn project which is set to be one of the first industrial-scale carbon capture projects in the UK.  It could remove at least half the CO2 emissions set out in the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan by capturing carbon at the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire and using existing energy infrastructure to transport and store it under the North Sea.

Wood is also continuing to support BP on the Net Zero Teesside project with an industrial cluster masterplan, and VPI Immingham on the Humber Zero project where it’s developing the early design to help create a zero-carbon industrial cluster.

Andrew Stewart, Executive President of Strategy and Development at Wood, said: “Across the globe, clients are looking for practical solutions around how to reduce their carbon emissions. In heavy industry sectors, CCUS will be an essential part of this journey and we expect to see further momentum in this market as policy evolves.

“At Wood, we have decades of experience in delivering feasibility studies, concept selection, engineering design and the implementation of capture technologies.  Furthermore, our understanding of existing oil and gas infrastructure means we are ideally placed to advise clients on how assets could be repurposed to transport and store CO2 in the future.”