Equinor faces Net Zero claims over Teeswork site
Plus: Houchen on grooming gangs and Teesworks incinerator chief fires back at MP
It’s been a lovely, mild week on the coast. Light jacket weather, even! Although, I suspect it’s back to scarves and boots this week.
This is the 24th edition of The Teesside Lead, thanks for supporting independent journalism in the Tees Valley.
This edition, I take a look at Ben Houchen’s new obsession with grooming gangs, share a report about the viability of carbon capture from one of Net Zero Teesside’s partners, and have an update on the row over the Teesworks incinerator.
Let’s get going…
One of the partners responsible for the Net Zero Teesside (NZT) carbon capture scheme has been forced to retract claims of the viability of its flagship project, after data showed it only captures a tenth of the claimed amount of carbon emissions.
Norwegian oil company Equinor has partnered with BP to deliver the gas power station at the Teesworks site, which was awarded part of a £22bn fund by the UK government in October 2024 to develop carbon capture technology to reduce its emissions.
However, data obtained by DeSmog and published this week shows Equinor only captures a fraction of the carbon dioxide it claims to at its flagship Sleipner project in the middle of the North Sea, approximately halfway between Peterhead and Stavanger.
Despite claiming to capture a million tonnes of CO2 at the site each year, DeSmog’s data, obtained from the Norwegian Environment Agency, shows the carbon capture project only captured 106,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023 - just over 10% of the claimed figure.
The project, which has been active since 1996, is often used by advocates of carbon capture to show the fledgling technology is viable at scale. However, Equinor has not captured 1,000,000 tonnes of CO2 at Sleipner in a single year since 2001, according to the figures provided by the Norwegian Environment Agency.
Equinor blames the discrepancy between the data and the inflated claim on its website on not updating its web page.
A spokesperson for Equinor told DeSmog: “We have now removed this error from our website and updated this section with the correct information.”
It’s the latest evidence of Equinor overstating its carbon capture capabilities, after it was revealed in October it had blamed a faulty monitor for over-estimating the amount of gas being pumped into a pipeline beneath the seabed.
At that time, a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told me: “Carbon capture, usage and storage is vital to boost our energy independence, and the Climate Change Committee describe it as a necessity not an option for reaching our climate goals.
"The £21.7 billion announced earlier this month represents a major success story for British industry which will support jobs, deliver clean power, and accelerate the UK towards net zero."
Meanwhile, BP is cutting around 5 per cent of jobs in its global workforce, in a bid to reassure shareholders who have become nervous about the company’s plans to decarbonise its core activities.
The company plans to cut 4,700 jobs and get rid of a further 3,000 contractor positions, as its chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, promises shareholders to cut costs by $2bn by the end of next year.
Canadian Auchincloss replaced Bernard Looney as CEO in September 2023 after the latter unexpectedly resigned following a scandal involving undeclared personal relationships with co-workers.
Looney had set BP’s strategy to decarbonise and aim towards greener activities, however, this has raised concerns among shareholders who hope the oil giant continues as it has done.
Mr Auchincloss has rowed back on a number of green targets set by Looney in a bid to keep investors onside.
After the government awarded Net Zero Teesside billions in subsidies, Felipe Arbelaez, senior vice president of hydrogen and carbon capture & storage at BP, said: “The progress of these projects to financial close is a demonstration of the power of the private and public sectors coming together to deliver integrated low carbon energy projects. They will create value for the region, partners, customers and BP. The projects further demonstrate BP’s focused and value–driven strategy for hydrogen and CCS – delivered together with our partners while maintaining our disciplined capital-light model.”
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Teesworks incinerator hits back at MP’s criticism
You may remember a few weeks ago how Redcar MP Anna Turley wrote to voice her opposition to plans to build a waste incinerator on the Teesworks site.
The plan to burn waste from seven local council areas in the North East is being led by Hartlepool Council, and the authority’s managing director Denise McGuckin has written a letter in response to Ms Turley.
Defending the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF), Ms McGuckin described recent media coverage and opposition to waste incineration as “scaremongering.”
She said a recent investigation by the BBC was “highly selective” and did not “reflect the operational realities” of energy-from-waste facilities.
I wrote up the story this week for energy industry website Energy Voice which you can read here, and you can read McGuckin’s letter here.
If you’re a follower of his on social media (or haven’t been blocked), it may not have escaped your attention that Ben Houchen has turned his attention to grooming gangs this year.
His posts, calling for an inquiry into the subject, are generally quite vague in terms of detail. In one post, sharing a screenshot of a BBC News article and the headline “Seven men jailed for abusing girls”, Lord Houchen demands “justice for the victims”, somehow ignoring the headline he shared which explicitly describes how justice has been delivered.
Meanwhile, an inspection of Cleveland Police has found the force has insufficient trained officers to investigate reports of child abuse, neglect and exploitation. The story was, of course, pounced on by Lord Houchen. He said he will “ensure that those in power are held accountable for fixing these systemic failures.”
The Conservative government, of course, failed to implement any of the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse which was published in 2022.
My colleague, Diyora Shadijanova, has looked into the claims made by Elon Musk and other figures on the far-right in relation to child sexual abuse in recent weeks. You can read her excellent, in-depth piece below…
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Thanks for reading!
Leigh