Repsol will adapt Petronor to the energy transition with Saudi Aramco as a partner

Repsol advances in its future plan, in which hydrocarbons -gas even more- will play a less relevant role, in line with the energy transition policy planned in Spain and Europe. In that year, it will have become a company with zero net emissions. Along these lines, Repsol's CEO, Josu Jon Imaz, presented two industrial projects on the horizon of decarbonisation, which he will develop together with national and international partners. The facilities, to be located in the port of Bilbao and its surroundings, will involve an initial investment of 80 million euros.

Among the international partners is the Saudi Arabian state group Aramco, the largest oil company in the world, which will participate in these investments that in fact represent Petronor's reconversion. 

The first project, in which 60 million euros will be invested initially, involves the construction of a plant to produce synthetic fuels with zero net emissions, one of the largest in the world, from green hydrogen, which will be generated with renewable energy. 

Imaz has pointed out that the main characteristic of these fuels, which are novel, is that they are produced with water and CO2 as the only raw materials and can be used in combustion engines such as those currently installed in cars in Spain and all over the world, also in planes or trucks and in other applications. The Basque Energy Agency (EVE) will be a partner in the project 

The facility, which will be fully operational within four years, is intended to be a reference in Europe for the cutting-edge technology applied and for the use of the CO2 captured at the Petronor refinery. Its development represents a "first-rate technological challenge" that will be led by the Repsol Technology Lab research centre, located in Móstoles. 

The second plant will focus its activity on the recovery of gases and their reuse in the production process of the Petronor refinery, and will be in line with the objective of giving way to the company's circular economy.