Enagás joins the Port ‘lobby’ Pipe to boost the gas station network

Enagás becomes part of the lobby Port pipe in full commitment to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as fuel for ships to reduce sulfur emissions. The platform of investors in Spanish ports has moved away from the conflicts of the stowage before the division that exists in the shipping and terminal sectors (the companies have been divided into two employers) and has opened a diversification process with which it seeks to give entry to firms in the energy sector that also develop infrastructure in port lands.

Thus, the first to join was Enagás, who is very present in the development of bunkering, but the idea of ​​the association is to be followed by other firms in the sector with presence or interests in the ports of Spain, such as Repsol or CLH. The Pipe board officially approves the landing of the company presided by Antonio Llardén throughout Tuesday morning.

“Firms like Enagás do not stop sharing the same objectives as the terminalistas because they all have concessions”

At this point, sources in the sector explain that firms such as Enagás “do not cease to share the same objectives as the terminalistas” since they all have concessions in the port lands and are interested in expediting the procedures for renewal of the same and reduce the cost of its operative Thus, since Pipe does not get into the issue of stowage, which still has some pending chapters since the CNMC doubts the legality of the new agreements and the Royal Decree of Pedro Sánchez, it is concentrating all its efforts to lower rates, promote the renewal of concessions and achieve a change in governance.

And, there is a certain bottleneck in the process of renewal and expansion of exploitation concessions since, on the one hand, many Ports have processed applications that were not well done, which has forced them to repeat them from the beginning.

There is a certain bottleneck in the process of renewal and expansion of concessions

On the other hand, Ports such as Barcelona and Palma were not favorable to the extension of the concession periods, so they have left applications stored in drawers, sources in the sector report. Finally, the process is slow due to the amount of work that had to be done in a short time, which forced Ports to hire Ineco to expedite the procedures.

For its part, Enagás is interested in being part of this association of port companies within its plan to develop a network of gas stations in the ports with which to supply LNG to ships. That is, building infrastructure with LNG supply in all ports, which implies the need to have land and services.

Do not forget that energy is part of the Core LNGas Hive project, which is an initiative that receives European funds and that counts on the participation of State Ports and the coordination of Enagás.

Pipe is a platform formed by companies such as Boluda, OHL, Algeposa, Ership, Noatum (Cosco group) or Toro y Betolaza group that aims to propose “changes and improvements to promote competitiveness, development and sustainability” of the port sector Spanish.