Shearwater GeoServices has secured a contract for a seismic survey from Spirit Energy for the Morecambe Bay carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the UK.

Scheduled in mid-2024, the six-week seismic operation will cover approximately 500km² over the Morecambe Bay gas fields, which will play a pivotal role in the detailed mapping required for future CCS projects.

Shearwater strategy and new markets senior vice-president Tanya Herwanger said: “We are proud to support Spirit Energy on the Morecambe CCS hub. By applying our innovative data collection and imaging technology to help operators gain a better understanding of their storage sites we support deployment of CCS at scale.

“CCS has been identified as a key mitigation measure for climate change but deployment at scale remains the challenge. We are leveraging our expertise and our marine seismic technology to meet this challenge in order to build a more sustainable future.”

Last year, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granted a carbon storage licence to Spirit Energy, advancing the company’s plan to repurpose the depleted North and South Morecambe gas fields for a CCS hub in the UK.

The fields are planned to be transformed into safe, permanent, and secure carbon storage, supporting the UK’s Net Zero ambition to capture and store more than 50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of CO₂ by 2035.

The company’s Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ) Cluster is expected to store up to a gigaton of CO₂.

The cluster could initially store more than 5mtpa of CO₂, with the potential to scale to 25mtpa.

At that time, Spirit Energy CEO Neil McCulloch said: “Spirit Energy has ambitions for the two gas fields to form the core of a green super-hub.

“This would explore opportunities like direct air capture, the manufacture of blue hydrogen, the production of green hydrogen, the integration of other renewable power generation facilities, and energy storage - all of which would put Barrow and the North West on the map as a centre for low-carbon innovation.”