Exolum-led partnership advances plans for major UK carbon storage hub at Avonmouth

Energy logistics company Exolum has agreed a new partnership to develop a large-scale carbon dioxide storage and shipping terminal at Avonmouth Docks near Bristol, in a move aimed at expanding carbon capture infrastructure for industrial businesses across southwest England, the Midlands and South Wales.

image: Exolum

Under the agreement, Exolum and Severnside Carbon will create a new subsidiary, Exolum 7CO₂, which will oversee the next stage of development of the proposed terminal. Spanish engineering group Técnicas Reunidas will participate as an engineering and development partner.

The companies said the facility would be designed to receive, store and transport captured CO₂ by rail and ship, with operations expected to begin from 2031. The project is intended to provide industrial emitters outside the UK’s existing government-supported carbon capture clusters with access to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) infrastructure.

According to the companies, around half of UK industrial emissions are generated outside the four established carbon capture clusters in northern England and Scotland. Industry in South Wales alone accounts for about 5% of the UK’s carbon emissions, they said.

The planned terminal could eventually handle up to six million tonnes of CO₂ annually, equivalent to the estimated yearly emissions of southwest England. The project would operate as an open-access facility, allowing multiple industrial users to transport captured emissions for storage.

Carbon capture and storage has become a central part of the UK government’s wider net zero strategy, particularly for hard to decarbonise transport such as aviation and maritime, along with heavy industries such as steel, cement, chemicals and energy generation, where reducing emissions through electrification alone is considered difficult. The government has pledged billions of pounds in support for CCUS infrastructure as part of efforts to decarbonise industry while protecting jobs and investment.

Debate continues on whether large-scale CCUS deployment can be delivered quickly and economically enough to meet climate targets.

Exolum said the Avonmouth project would build on its existing UK energy infrastructure network, which includes fuel storage terminals and pipeline systems supplying airports and industrial customers. The company has also recently invested in sustainable aviation fuel infrastructure in southwest England.

Paul Davies, co-founder of Severnside Carbon, said the agreement would help provide confidence for industrial businesses considering investment in carbon capture technologies, while Exolum said the project was intended to create “future-ready infrastructure” for industrial decarbonisation.