Storegga welcomes M&G as a shareholder

Storegga welcomes M&G as a shareholder

Storegga, the independent UK company pioneering carbon reduction and removal for a net zero world, is pleased to annouced that M&G plc (“M&G”) has become the first UK headquartered institutional investor in the Company. M&G, a FTSE-100 listed savings and investment business with £367 billion in assets under management and administration, is Storegga’s fourth external shareholder, alongside Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets Group (“Macquarie”), GIC, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (“Mitsui”). M&G’s investment is made through its asset management division on behalf of the £143 billion Prudential With-Profits Fund.

The investment by M&G marks the third entry of investment from institutional investors in the last 12 months following the initial cornerstone investment by Macquarie in July 2020,and second round investment by Macquarie, GIC and Mitsui in March 2021.

Storegga is the lead developer of the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage (“CCS”) and Hydrogen Project (“Acorn” or “The Acorn Project”) in North East Scotland. Acorn is expected to be operational in the mid-2020s and has the potential to store over 60% of the 10Mt/yr of CO₂ storage targetted by the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a green Industrial Revolution by 2030. The Acorn Project is highly scaleable and overall has the potential to store 20Mt/yr or more of CO₂ emissions by the mid 2030’s, in a region that has been traditionally the home to a large proportion of the UK’s world leading oil and gas skills base. In North East Scotland, and located in close proximity to the Acorn project, Storegga is planning the first large-scale UK based Direct Air Capture (“DAC”) facility alongside its technical partner Carbon Engineering. Storegga has also recently announced international expansion of its carbon reduction and removal activities with CCS joint venture activities with Talos Energy in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nick Cooper, Storegga CEO, commented:

“We are delighted that M&G is joining Macquarie, GIC and Mitsui as investors in Storegga and welcome them warmly. As a major UK institutional investor, M&G’s investment strengthens our ability to develop carbon reduction and carbon removal projects globally and will help shape Storegga into a leading, independent, UK-based carbon reduction company.

“At Storegga, we believe that safe, accessible CO₂ storage sites are the foundation that enables a system of related carbon reduction and removal activities. Establishing CO₂ transportation and storage infrastructure, enables a host of other decarbonisation opportunities such as importing CO₂ from other regions, low carbon hydrogen generation and the negative carbon activity of DAC. Storegga is progressing projects in all these areas, focusing on meeting net zero goals, proving technologies at scale and establishing commercial and employment opportunities.

“As a new, independent company solely focused on permanent, verifiable carbon capture, removal and storage in the UK and globally, we are excited to have the support of four such world-class institutional investors that share our vision to drive the transition to a low carbon economy and help the UK and the rest of the world meet their net zero goals.”

Alex Seddon, Head of Catalyst at M&G Investments, commented:

“As a long term investor in the UK economy we are delighted to become a shareholder in Storegga at this exciting time in the Company’s journey.  We believe that Storegga’s approach to carbon capture offers a responsible, pragmatic solution to help reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere and limit the damage to our planet from global warming, and in time will generate steady income streams to benefit our customers. This investment fits well in Catalyst where we are deploying capital and backing innovative businesses that create strong positive impact in the future.”

Storegga’s current carbon reduction and removal projects and partnerships

The Acorn Project

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Pale Blue Dot Energy, Storegga is the lead developer of the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen Project based at St Fergus, North East Scotland. Acorn is one of the most mature UK CCS and hydrogen projects and is positioned to be the most cost-effective and scalable CCS project in the UK. The Acorn project is currently in the detailed engineering and design phase of development and is planned to be operational by the mid 2020’s and has the potential to store over 60% of the 10Mt/yr of CO₂ storage targeted by the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a green Industrial Revolution by 2030. Storegga is developing a ‘best-in-class’ execution model for CCS with the most ambitious and experienced partners to support the UK to become a global leader with an export of knowledge, skills, and experience.

Direct Air Capture

In the UK, Storegga has a license agreement with DAC technology partner Carbon Engineering, a company backed by Bill Gates. Unlike capturing emissions from industrial flue stacks, DAC technology captures CO₂ directly out of the air around us. This can help counteract today’s CO₂ emissions, and remove the large quantities of C_O2 emitted in the past that remains trapped in the atmosphere.

On 24^th June, 2021, Storegga and Carbon Engineering announced that they had began engineering and design of a DAC facility that will permanently remove between 500,000 and one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. Targeted for North-East Scotland, the proposed facility will be the first large-scale facility of its kind in Europe and the partners are aiming for it to be operational by 2026. Once complete, it will be a model for how this clean infrastructure can be deployed across the continent to help achieve critical net zero targets, while also creating thousands of local jobs and businesses. 

 Talos Energy Joint Venture (“JV”)

Earlier this month, Storegga and Talos Energy Inc. (“Talos”), an independent offshore energy company focused on oil and gas exploration and production in the United States Gulf of Mexico and offshore Mexico, formed an exclusive JV to source, evaluate and develop CCS project opportunities on the United States Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Under the JV framework, the Storegga and Talos, in collaboration, will originate and mature CCS ventures with emitters, infrastructure providers, service companies and financing partners, among others.

For further information please contact:

Camarco (PR and Media)

Billy Clegg, Monique Perks, Tom Huddart - 020 3757 4983

Madano (Public Affairs)

Andrew Turner, Neil Stockley, James Watson - 07702 962043 

Notes to Editors:

Storegga

Storegga is an independent, UK-based carbon management business at the forefront of the global Net Zero strategy. It aims to champion and deliver carbon capture and storage (“CCS”), hydrogen, and other subsurface renewable projects in the UK and internationally to accelerate carbon emission reductions.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Pale Blue Dot Energy, Storegga is the lead developer of the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage (“CCS”) and Hydrogen project, providing essential infrastructure to help the UK meet its net zero targets.

The Acorn Project will provide critical backbone infrastructure for the Scottish Cluster. The Scottish Cluster unites communities, industries and businesses to deliver CCS, hydrogen and other low carbon technologies, supporting Scotland, the UK and Europe to meet net zero goals.

Storegga has partnered with leading engineering and technology groups at the forefront of their fields to accelerate infrastructure development. The Company has partnered with Carbon Engineering, a company backed by Bill Gates, to develop Direct Air Capture (“DAC”) in the UK.

Storegga:(https://www.storegga.earth/)

For more information on Storegga, Pale Blue Dot or Acorn contact storegga_media@camarco.co.uk or 020 3757 4980

For more information on the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen Project, please visit: About Acorn – Acorn CCS - https://theacornproject.uk/about/

M&G plc

M&G plc is an international savings and investments business, managing money for both individual savers and institutional investors in 28 markets. As at 31 December 2020, we had £367 billion of assets under management and administration, around 5 million retail customers and more than 800 institutional clients.

With a heritage dating back more than 170 years, M&G plc has a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. We serve our savings and insurance customers under the Prudential brand in the UK and Europe and for asset management in South Africa, and under the M&G Investments brand for asset management clients globally.

M&G has committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions on its total book of assets under management and administration by 2050 and committed to reduce operational carbon emissions as a corporate entity to net zero by 2030.