Essar Oil UK partners with MHI for carbon capture project

Downstream energy company Essar Oil UK Limited has enlisted the expertise of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), marking a significant stride in its ambitious EET Industrial Carbon Capture initiative at Stanlow, United Kingdom. The collaboration underscores Essar’s unwavering commitment to transforming Stanlow into the UK’s inaugural low-carbon refinery.

The partnership with MHI, a renowned technology provider, is instrumental in advancing the project to the front-end engineering design  (FEED) phase, slated for the fourth quarter of 2023. MHI’s role will focus on the carbon dioxide capture segment of the plant, a pivotal component in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Essar unveiled plans for the EET Industrial Carbon Capture facility at Stanlow in November 2022. The project is anticipated to be operational by 2028, aiming to mitigate approximately 860,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. This reduction is akin to removing 400,000 cars from the roads, marking a significant reduction in the refinery’s emissions.

The collaboration with MHI is not just a milestone for Essar but also a testament to the company’s broader decarbonisation blueprint. Essar is channeling USD1.2 billion over the next half-decade to curtail emissions, a move aligning with the UK’s energy transition goals and bolstering the refinery’s role in national energy security.

Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of Essar Oil UK, expressed optimism about the partnership with MHI, highlighting it as a crucial step towards realising the EET Industrial Carbon Capture project. The initiative is central to Essar’s objective of pioneering the low-carbon refinery landscape in the UK.

Kenji Terasawa, CEO and head of Engineering Solutions at MHI, echoed Maheshwari’s sentiments. He lauded Essar’s ambitious goal to spearhead decarbonisation in the North West and expressed MHI’s commitment to contributing its world-class carbon capture technology to the project.