ExxonMobil's plans for huge pipe to English Channel CO2 dump

An underground pipeline up to 33km long will run from the petro-chemical complex to a "carbon capture" facility south west of the Solent.

If the scheme goes ahead, millions of tonnes of the greenhouse gas will be stored deep underground instead of being released into the atmosphere.

ExxonMobil is planning to pipe CO2 to a storage area deep below the seabed south west of the Solent (Image: ExxonMobil)

One of the three options under discussion would see the proposed pipeline crossing the south eastern corner of the New Forest before heading under the Solent at a point west of Lymington.

Under the other two, it will cross the Solent near Lepe before taking either a north-south or a north-west route across the Isle of Wight.

The ExxonMobil scheme, which needs government approval, will take two or three years to implement.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: "The company is seeking approval to construct an underground pipeline from the Fawley petrochemical complex to the only identified offshore CO2 storage site in the English Channel.

"This initiative aims to safely transport millions of tonnes of CO2 annually, equivalent to removing five million cars from the road each year."

See the consultation here: solentco2pipeline.co.uk

ExxonMobil is planning to pipe CO2 to a storage area deep below the seabed south west of the Solent (Image: ExxonMobil)

The pipeline will occupy part of a 50m-wide corridor and will be between 24km and 33km long, depending on which route is chosen. 

The scheme is likely to spark objections from people worried about the impact on the countryside.

But a brochure describing the proposal says ExxonMobil will avoid ancient woodland, which is difficult to restore or replace.

It adds: "Our aim is to carefully design the pipeline to avoid or reduce environmental impacts.

"Where practicable, the design of the pipeline corridors has avoided areas where there could be significant impacts. Examples of mitigation could be retaining notable trees to reduce impacts to the visual landscape, installing temporary bales of hay to retain hedgerow connectivity for wildlife, and installing noise barriers to reduce temporary construction impacts.

"Once the pipeline has been installed, we will reinstate the land to its former state where possible."

CO2 produced by Fawley refinery will be piped to a storage area deep below the English Channel if the scheme is approved by the government (Image: Stephen Bath)

Michael Foley, UK Low Carbon Solutions Venture Executive at ExxonMobil, added: "The UK Climate Change Committee acknowledge CCS technology as a game-changer, describing it as a ‘necessity not an option’.

"We are proud of the work we are doing to bring it to the Solent, one of the most industrially significant areas in the UK.

“Many industrial sectors in the Solent are essential yet challenging to decarbonise, like those at our Fawley complex, which produces a diverse range of essential products like fuels and rubber products."

Today's announcement comes after the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) invited applications to store CO2 in saline aquifers - rock formations 1,000m below the seabed - off the Isle of Wight.

A NSTA spokesperson said: "Although most of the UK’s potential storage is located in the North Sea, the English Channel is estimated to have a potential storage capacity of over 1GT of CO2, equivalent to the emissions of more than 200 million cars driven in one year."

The cost of the pipeline project will depend on its scope and complexity.