BP, Conocophillips, Shell and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) are to embark on the design of the world's first industrial scale project to generate electricity from hydrogen. The project, which will be sited at Peterhead, Scotland will include a 350MW power plant and a new methane reformer plant which will convert up to 70 million cubic feet of natural gas a day into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Carbon dioxide would be pumped out to sea for storage and to apply pressure to the existing gas and oil field to enable more oil to be extracted. The Miller field is due to cease production in 2006/7 but the injection of CO_2 into the reservoir could increase the amount of oil extracted from the field, potentially allowing the production of up to 40 million additional barrels of oil and extending the life of the field by 15 to 20 years.
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