The partnership focuses on cross-border carbon capture opportunities in the North Sea. Image by Oleksii Liskonih via iStock
Norway and the United Kingdom have agreed to finalize what they call a Green Industrial Partnership next spring.
The partnership will cover a range of sectors including "future clean energy innovations", with a focus on cross-border carbon capture opportunities in the North Sea, said a statement from the British Prime Minister's Office.
"As one of the UK's most important and long-standing energy partners, with Norway being the single biggest supplier of gas after the UK Continental Shelf, the new agreement - which the two countries have a joint ambition to sign in spring 2025 - will support our aim to secure home-grown energy, protect billpayers, and put us on track to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030", said the statement posted on the UK government's online portal.
Alongside the partnership, the two countries also agreed to work on a bilateral agreement on the cross-border transport of carbon dioxide under the London Protocol.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said of the new partnership, "It will harness the UK's unique potential to become a world-leader in carbon capture - from the North Sea to the coastal south - reigniting industrial heartlands and delivering on our Plan for Change".
"Our partnership with Norway will make the UK more energy secure, ensuring we are never again exposed to international energy price spikes and the whims of dictators like Putin", Starmer added.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in the statement, "We have cooperated in the field of carbon capture and storage for more than 20 years, and further strengthening our cooperation with the UK will help us to cut emissions and create green jobs".
UK offshore energy industry group OEUK welcomed the agreement for a clean energy partnership. "The UK has had a long and successful energy partnership with Norway, and this will continue as the North Sea builds out future needs in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and floating wind as well as the oil and gas we will continue to need", OEUK operations director Mark Wilson said in a statement on OEUK's website.
"These are deeply interconnected markets not just for the energy we produce and use but also for the flow of people, skills and technologies in the North Sea basin.
"Today Norwegian gas provides around 40 percent of the UK's overall demand for heating and electricity and is our biggest import partner alongside the US. With increasing reliance on electricity globally it will continue to be important for the UK to maintain its own supplies to avoid the volatility and price spikes which often accompany tighter energy markets".
Earlier this month Norway's majority stated-owned Equinor ASA reached a final investment decision with partners BP PLC and TotalEnergies SE to proceed with the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) carbon capture and storage project.
Expected to start operation 2028, NEP will permanently store up to an initial four million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
"The NEP infrastructure will initially serve three carbon capture projects in the Teesside region (NZT Power, H2Teesside and Teesside Hydrogen CO2 Capture)", TotalEnergies said in a press release December 10. "Infrastructure includes an onshore CO2 gathering network, compression facilities and a 145 km [90.1 miles] offshore pipeline connected to subsea injection facilities in the Endurance saline aquifer located around 1,000m [3,280.84 feet] below the seabed".
Equinor and BP each hold 45 percent in NEP. TotalEnergies owns the remaining 10 percent.