Overturn of CO2 transportation ban promises North Sea CCS boost

The prospect of depleted North Sea oil and gas fields continuing to generate revenue for the UK as storage facilities for capture carbon emissions moved a step closer last week after International Maritime Organisation (IMO) voted in favour of the international ban on the cross-boundary transport of CO2 being lifted.

The repeal of the ban could still take several years to ratify, but experts said it would provide a major boost to the development of international carbon capture and storage (CCS) networks that could see carbon emissions from across Northern Europe captured and stored under the North Sea.

Fifteen nations – including the UK – voted in favour of reforming the London Protocol to allow the transfer of CO2 across national borders, with only China voting against the reform and six countries abstaining.

The changes to the protocol still need to be ratified to come into effect, a move which needs a two-thirds majority vote from signatories to the protocol.

"There's every reason why they should ratify," said Jeff Chapman of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association. "It would be an unusual step for them not to."

Chapman warned EU countries that if they fail to ratify the treaty, they could be contravening the EU's Carbon Capture and Storage directive, which requires member states to do all they can to advance the development of the technology.

The nations have already voted in favour of reforming the London Protocol - and the similar Ospar treaty for Europe – to overturn a ban on sequestering CO2 under the ocean, though the Ospar reform is also yet to be ratified.

Both treaties were initially agreed to prevent the dumping of toxic and radioactive waste at sea, at a time before signatories realised they could also be banning the potentially beneficial sequestration of CO2.

However, a spokesman for the IMO warned that the propsect of the UK effectively renting out carbon storage capabilities to other countries remained several years away. "Ratification depends on national procedures, getting agreement from parliament and so on," he said. "It's a lengthy process and could take years, that's for sure."