Yesterday, over 250 local and UK suppliers and contractors gathered to hear about the potential supply chain opportunities available as part of the Humber Zero project. The day welcomed suppliers of equipment, materials, fabrication and construction services.
Humber Zero is a set of carbon reduction projects which aims to retrofit carbon capture and storage technology at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery and VPI Immingham CHP plant (“VPI”). The initial phase will see an investment of £1.2 billion.
Chris Gilbert, Technical Manager at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery said:
“We are looking to start construction of our carbon capture facilities in 2024 and to be completed in 2027. This will be a great economic boost for the area as it will create around 2,500 construction jobs, 200 permanent jobs and safeguard up to around 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Humber region.”
The event was supported by Worley who is working closely with Phillips 66 Limited and VPI Immingham LLP to provide the front-end engineering design. During the day suppliers also heard from guest speakers Dr William Joyce, Innovation Lead at UKRI and Ewan Booth, Engineering Manager at Harbour Energy, who own and manage one of the potential transport and storage options for the carbon captured.
VPI Immingham’s Humber Zero project director Jonathan Briggs said:
“Reducing carbon emissions is vital to meet the Government’s net zero ambition by 2050. The Humber region is the largest emitter of carbon emissions in the UK. This project has the potential to reduce up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 from the Immingham industrial area entering the atmosphere each year by 2050. (William Joyce, Innovation Lead at UKRI)
“This project is a first to capture CO2 at these scales and we want to engage everyone across the supply chain in this exciting opportunity for the Humber region.”
In the afternoon, suppliers attended different breakout sessions. These included, mechanical and piping; electrical and control & instrumentation; and construction. They had the opportunity to ask questions, find out how they can become a verified supplier and the technical requirements of the project.