Goldeneye

The Goldeneye Carbon Storage Project was a planned offshore CO₂ geologic sequestration initiative led by Shell U.K. Limited in partnership with SSE plc, intended to create one of the first full-chain carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems for a gas-fired power plant in the United Kingdom North Sea. The project—centered on capturing approximately 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per year from the Peterhead Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power station in Aberdeenshire, Scotland—would have compressed and transported CO₂ via pipeline about 100 km offshore to the depleted Goldeneye gas field in the Outer Moray Firth. The intended injection formation was the Captain Sandstone reservoir at depths of over 2.5 km beneath the seabed, with independent studies indicating safe storage of 10–20 million metric tons of CO₂ over a 10–15-year injection period, and potential for additional capacity beyond this range. Although the Goldeneye project advanced to Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) and was one of the UK Government’s CCS Commercialisation Programme finalists—receiving FEED contracts for capture, pipeline, and offshore infrastructure—it did not proceed to final investment decision or construction following withdrawal of UK funding support in the mid-2010s. The Goldeneye field and associated infrastructure have since been subject to decommissioning discussions, but the underlying reservoir and adjacent pipelines remain recognized as viable storage assets for future CCS opportunities in the North Sea and are being evaluated within broader UK CCS development frameworks.