On the 25th of July, VPI, the leading power company, made the announcement that they have decided to put Worley in charge of leading preparations for their new project. This new project is a carbon capture project, which is due to be based in Immingham and Worley will lead the preparations for its delivery.

These companies have been combining their efforts since 2022 and this began over the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the carbon capture retrofit. The most recent development within this collaboration, is that Worley has now been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) development phase. This will prepare for the EPC of the project and this will lead it into waiting for the final investment decision, which will come in 2025.

The Immingham project is based within the Humber region and it is significant, as it is one of two proposed emitter projects for the Viking CCS cluster. So far, the project overall has been provided with a Track 2 status.

VPI has stated that their aim revolves around capturing an estimated 3.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide on an annual basis. It has also been suggested that there is a hope the project will create over 1,500 construction jobs, plus other permanent jobs, once it has become operational.

So far, research that was performed by Viking CCS, has proved that the cluster’s projects have the potential to unlock an estimated £7 billion of investment throughout the value chain from 2025 to 2035. On top of this, the cluster could also provide an estimated £4 billion of gross value add (GVA) to the Humber region.

Senior Vice President, UK at Worley, Marino Barbi, commented, “VPI’s Humber Zero Carbon Capture project is strategically important to the UK’s net zero ambitions. This award demonstrates VPI’s commitment to decarbonizing the Humber region, reflects Worley’s CCUS and project delivery expertise and aligns with our sustainability vision and ambition. We’re excited to continue to partner with VPI on their decarbonization journey.”

Director of Development and Delivery at VPI, Jonathan Briggs, said, “Our carbon capture project will help kickstart decarbonization of the Humber industrial region and preserve and create thousands of jobs during construction. It will help enable the transport and storage infrastructure needed for other nearby industries to start capturing their carbon, while delivering low-carbon, reliable and flexible power and steam. To help reach net zero timeframes, we have been preparing as much as we can so that we can be ‘shovel ready’, ahead of key decisions on the Track 2 emitter projects. We have been working closely with Worley throughout the FEED process. They know the project well and our continued partnership means we can hit the ground running.”