How many carbon storage permits it has issued for the North Sea region.

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is the licensing authority for offshore storage except within the territorial sea adjacent to Scotland, for which Scottish ministers authorise.
In order to undertake a CO2 storage project on the continental shelf, a business needs (i) a grant of property rights from the Crown Estate and (ii) both a CO2 storage licence and permit from the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).
The Crown Estate awards rights for CO2 storage through two sets of documents: a storage agreement for lease (AfL) followed by a storage lease, and the same for the pipeline (if necessary). The AfL grants to the holder a time limited exclusive option to proceed through to a pre-agreed lease once a number of conditions have been met. In the case of storage, the holder of an AfL requires a licence from either the OGA or the Scottish Government (depending on the location of the site) to undertake certain activities ahead of stepping into the lease. To conduct storage operations both a lease and a storage permit from the OGA or the Scottish Government are needed.
The OGA has issued no carbon storage permits to date however the Shell/SSE Peterhead carbon capture and storage project is currently going through the permitting process.