LNG

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.

Repsol, the leading Spanish energy company, said it successfully completed its first multi truck-to-ship quayside LNG bunkering operation at the port of Malaga on the southern coast of Spain.

The company said this was the first LNG bunkering operation in this port for a cruise ship and was made possible through the collaborative efforts of four parties.

They comprised Repsol, the Royal Caribbean Group, the Malaga Port Authority and the ESK truck company specialised in the transport and supply of LNG.

Repsol aid it performed the multi-truck re-fuelling operation and supplied four LNG trucks with simultaneous operations at the port to fuel Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship “Silver Nova”.

Multi-truck

“The successful multi-truck LNG bunkering operation, while conducting vessel operation at port, enables the multi-energy companies to offer more sustainable transportation solutions across a wider range of routes,” Repsol explained.

Madrid-based Repsol said the quayside bunkerings highlighted the strong partnership between Repsol and Royal Caribbean as they work together to enhance the accessibility and availability of alternative marine fuel options for cruise ships.

During the summer of 2023, Repsol said it collaborated with and Royal Caribbean in a three-month trial to use a fuel formulated with 20 percent renewable fuel produced from used cooking oils on another one of Royal Caribbean’s cruise ships, the “Symphony of the Seas”.

“These collaborations align with Repsol’s commitment to the decarbonization of marine transport with a multi-technological approach,” stated Repsol.

Fuel terminals

Repsol is broadening its LNG bunkering activities and in June 2023 inaugurated its second supply terminal for LNG bunkering for ships arriving in the northwest Spanish port city of Santander, especially one of its main customers in the region Brittany Ferries.

The new facility has a cryogenic tank with a storage capacity of 1,000 cubic metres in addition to the terminal that Repsol already has in the nearby port of Bilbao.

Opening the Santander terminal was another step in Repsol's commitment to the energy transition.

Both the terminals in Northwest Spain are part of the collaboration agreement that Repsol signed with French shipping company Brittany Ferries in 2019 for the supply of LNG as maritime fuel for its operations in Spain to where it brings passengers and freight from ports in countries like the UK.

Brittany Ferries, the French line that links the UK with Spain and France, has signed an LNG fuel supply deal for newbuild roll-on-roll-off passenger and freight vessels connecting Portsmouth in England with two French ports.

Spanish energy company Repsol has started the construction of the liquefied natural gas bunkering terminal in the northwest Spanish port of Bilbao to supply the Brittany Ferries company and its LNG-powered vessels linking to port in Northern France, the UK and Ireland.

The first two vessels to be provided for are the “Salamanca” and the “Santoña”, which will start their operations in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The Bilbao terminal will also supply other ships with LNG fuel in the future.

“The construction of this terminal is part of the long-term collaboration agreement formalized in 2019 between Repsol and Brittany Ferries for the supply of LNG to their operations in Spain,” Repsol explained.

This facility is scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2022.

The Bilbao terminal will have a cryogenic tank with a storage capacity of 1,000 cubic metres.

“The flexible design of the terminal will allow it to service different vessels in the future, representing an important decarbonization opportunity for port operations,” stated Repsol.

Joint effort

The Spanish company said the start of construction is on schedule thanks to the efficient collaboration between Repsol's engineering teams, the different administrations involved and the Port Authority of Bilbao.

Repsol said it was commited to industrial development for fuel and the bunkering venture involves an investment of more than €10 million ($11.7M).

Repsol is also planting the construction of a second LNG bunkering at another northwest port, Santander. It will have the same capacity as Bilbao and is being developed in cooperation with the Port Authority of Santander.

Work has already begun on the conditioning of the quay where the bunker station will be located.

Both terminals are co-financed by the European Commission through the CEF-Connecting Europe Facilities Programme.

Spain currently has six operational LNG import and storage terminals around the coastline and they will provide supplies of fuel.

Repsol cited data from the Iberian Association of Natural Gas for Mobility (Gasnam), showing that the current fleet of LNG-powered ships worldwide is 221, which represents 70 percent growth compared with the 131 ships that were sailing in 2018.