Repsol is navigating a complex energy landscape in 2025, balancing traditional operations with a growing focus on low-carbon solutions. How is your current investment split between these areas and is that evolving?
We strongly believe the energy transition is about leveraging all solutions at once—deploying renewable power alongside renewable molecules like biofuels, hydrogen, and synthetic fuels. Today, around 35% of our capital expenditure is directed toward low-carbon areas. On the industrial side, about half of our investment now goes into new businesses. We continue to deliver reliable energy through our gas, refining, and chemical divisions.
The legacy cycle of major industrial investments is largely complete, especially in chemicals, where future spending will focus on differentiation and the circular economy. Going forward, most of our capital will be absorbed by three main areas: renewable power generation—our most capital-intensive division—industrial transformation for green molecules, and the upstream business. We’re also bringing equity partners into renewables and upstream to help us scale.
Renewable fuels are widely seen as essential to decarbonization, but they face real-world implementation hurdles. How would you characterise the current pace of deployment for renewables, hydrogen, and biofuels?
This is a regulation-driven business. Deployment has been slower than expected, particularly from three years ago when we thought the new EU regulation package was close. As of now, the Renewable Energy Directive hasn’t been implemented in Spain or Portugal, which are our core markets.
That delay postpones commercial operation dates and final investment decisions. Still, there are “no-regret” moves based on aspects of EU regulation that can't be changed at the national level, like the 1% RFNBOs for hydrogen or certain GHG reductions. Looking toward 2030, we don’t expect changes to the targets themselves, but there should be more flexibility in how they are to be met.
Your chairman has emphasized the need for pragmatism in shaping Europe’s approach to the energy transition. What does that look like in practice, and where do you see the current policy falling short?
The issue is less with primary European regulation, which is solid, and more with secondary regulation. Sometimes these detailed rules include assumptions or biases about what should happen. For example, the regulation for hydrogen production requires correlation with renewable power generation, which must match production and consumption, shifting from annual to monthly, then hourly correlation by 2030.
That sort of constraint increases hydrogen’s cost.
You also need to prove the additionality of the renewables used. Vehicles using renewable fuels often aren’t acknowledged in secondary regulations, even when primary regulations recognize them. We need to be more flexible and avoid unnecessary technological bias. Let’s use every available solution to meet climate goals. What we need is a bit more flexibility around renewable molecules, so we don’t miss the opportunity to move forward. That way, we can keep executing the pipeline at the right pace.
You’ve made a major push with the Nexa 100% renewable diesel network across Spain, positioning it as a key part of your low-carbon offering. What has consumer uptake been like so far?
We’ve been consistent in our approach.
We began expanding our Nexa network last year, going from 50 to over 800 gas stations, surpassing our goal of 600 for the year. Now we’re above 1,300, with a target of 1,500 this year, making it one of Europe’s most expansive renewable fuel networks.
Consumer acceptance has been strong. We’ve replaced our premium product with Nexa, and clients have responded positively—98% of those who used the premium product switched. We’re also seeing new customers attracted by the potential for emissions reductions. Sales have increased, and this is shaping up to be a real success.
As part of your broader energy transition strategy, how are you prioritizing investments in emerging technologies and diversification beyond traditional fuels?
We’re balancing capital between current cash-generating businesses and future growth areas. Our strategic plan includes €16–19 billion in net capex, with €2–3 billion earmarked for low-carbon molecules, distributed across our four business divisions: upstream, renewables, industrial, and our client business. Within low-carbon, our top priorities are biofuels and hydrogen. Biofuels—especially renewable diesel made from fatty residues—are already on the market and competitive, though feedstocks are finite. That’s why we’re expanding into gasification of municipal solid waste, which remains underutilized in Spain and Portugal, where over half still goes to landfills.
Methanol is the main output here, with versatile uses in maritime transport, chemical production, or conversion into other fuels like gasoline or SAF. We’ve approved a nearly €800 million project in Tarragona (Spain) to produce 240,000 tons of renewable methanol annually by 2029. We’re also exploring sectors like supplying power for data centres and continuing to invest in hydrogen—backed strongly at the EU level—as well as biomethane, which plays a useful role in mobility and industry. Finally, synthetic fuels are part of the roadmap, with a demo facility in Bilbao to help refine the approach before scaling post-2030.
You’ve announced a major methanol-from-waste project. What makes it commercially viable now, and are the regulations in place to support it?
We base our analysis on future demand. The IMO recently released targets for renewable fuels starting in 2028, and our project will start operations in 2029, so the timing aligns well. EU maritime regulations are already in force, which helps anchor the business case. Methanol also brings flexibility—if maritime demand shifts, we can convert it into other products. That optionality strengthens the economics and helps us navigate changing markets.
That said, it’s still challenging from a regulatory perspective. We need more consistency and simplification. Different legislations define low-carbon and circular fuels differently, and there’s a lack of alignment across markets. We think greenhouse gas intensity should be the common standard. The new Commission’s omnibus process to simplify existing legislation is a promising start. We’re ready to comply, but it shouldn’t be this difficult to figure out what qualifies and what doesn't.
