Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas company and liquefied natural gas market participant, has acquired a 40 percent stake in Genia Bioenergy, Spain’s main developer of natural gas made from waste to boost its presence in the bio-LNG bunkering sector.
Genia Bioenergy is developing 19 plants producing biogas made from agricultural and livestock waste in Spain and Portugal.
The biogas produced will be used both for Repsol's internal consumption and for marketing to customers. Repsol did not disclose any financial details about the transaction with Genia Bioenergy.
Fuels sector
“This agreement is an important step forward in our strategy to take advantage of substrates and organic waste and transform them into fuels for the home, industry and mobility,” said Juan Abascal, Repsol's Executive Managing Director of Industrial Transformation and the Circular Economy.
Repsol added that Genia Bioenergy is the only Spanish company that integrates the entire biogas and biomethane value chain, from the development of technologies to the engineering and construction and the biological and technical operation at the projects.
The Spanish major explained that the emerging biogas industry in Spain and Portugal will contribute to solving the problem that organic waste currently represents for administrations, since it takes advantage of waste that would otherwise generate emissions into the atmosphere as it degrades in landfills.
It also represents an opportunity to generate economic activity in rural areas.
According to Gabriel Butler, Chief Executive of Genia Bioenergy, the biogas plants will help meet the Iberian Peninsula’s European Union obligations on carbon emissions.
“The development of biomethane plants advances Spain's goal of decarbonization of the economy, reduces its energy dependence on foreign countries and provides a sustainable response to European guidelines on waste management,” said Butler.
Rural economy
“It also means the creation of qualified jobs and the boosting of economic ecosystems around waste, especially in rural environments,” he added.
In the LNG sector, Repsol has been building up its LNG bunkering business in recent years and has an agreement with French company Brittany Ferries to supply its vessels arriving at ports in Spain with LNG fuel.
In conventional LNG trading Repsol is also one of the companies with an as yet unfulfilled sale and purchase agreement with Venture Global of the US for the Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana.
Repsol additionally signed a deal in February 2024 to supply UK utility company Centrica with 1 million tonnes of LNG shipments between 2025 and 2027.
Centrica said at the time that all of these cargoes were expected to be delivered to the UK Grain LNG import terminal located on the Medway River in Kent, southeast England.
