LNG

HAM Group of Spain, the developer of an expanding European LNG filling station network, plans to provide natural gas fuel on the Pan-American Highway spanning South America starting in Peru.

HAM has set up a joint venture with Peruvian company Limagas called Energía de Valor Ambietal (EVA) to begin providing more LNG and compressed natural gas (CNG) for trucks and automobiles in the region.

HAM already has a network of more than 140 LNG, CNG and biomethane service stations in Europe, mostly on the main Spanish transportation routes.

The HAM-Limagas venture plans to provide LNG an and CNG with proposals to open between 10 and 15 natural gas vehicle filling service stations before December 2025.

Supply points

“The first service stations that EVA will open will be located along the Pan-American Highway, a system that links almost all the countries of the American continent with its more than 17,800 kilometres (11,060 miles) of road,” they said.

“These LNG supply points will be located in Mala, Nazca and Arequipa,” they added, referring to major Peruvian cities near the coastal highway.

The Mala LNG service station will be operational first while it is expected that Nasca and Arequipa will be able to begin offering service during the second half of the year.

“With the creation of EVA ( in English, Energy of Environmental Value), HAM Group and Limagas reinforce their presence in Peru, developing an important growth strategy and taking advantage of the possibilities that Peru can become a benchmark in the Latin American vehicle energy field,” the companies stated.

Volvo trucks

HAM already has Peruvian operations. The Spanish company had earlier announced on May 7 2024 that advances had been made in its business in Peru with Volvo Peru delivering the first LNG tractors to HAM Criogénica Peru, the company’s own trucking company.

These were also the first LNG-fuelled trucks Volvo Peru had delivered on the South American continent.

These vehicles acquired by HAM Perú are characterized by having high pressure direct injection (HPDI), which plays an important role in sustainable solutions for the decarbonization of transportation.

HAM, which also has a widespread road haulage business in Spain, also recently expanded its Spanish network with a strategic filling station for transportation fleets travelling from Madrid to Barcelona.

HAM’s new Torre-Serona Lleida LNG mobile service station is located on the A2 Northeast Highway at KP 463.

Spanish build-out

The A2 Northeast highway is one of the main radial highways in Spain with significant trucking traffic fleets passing through Guadalajara, Zaragoza and Lérida.

HAM sets up mobile service stations in the EU designed and manufactured by HAM subsidiary company, Vakuum.

Its European gas stations are open 24/365 and they are monitored remotely while offering the possibility of contacting technical service and with advanced security systems to guarantee the rapid resolution of incidents during refuelling.

HAM recently inaugurated two other facilities in the Tarragona province of eastern Spain as it builds out its chain of filling stations on the A7 stretching from north of Barcelona to Cadiz in southwest Spain.

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.