•  Regulators need framework in place to incentivise investment in renewable molecules, says chief of Spanish major

David Ghilotti, Upstream

CALGARY
Energiesnet.com 09 20 2023

The complexity of the energy transition requires investment in renewable molecules as well as renewable power, as electrification will not achieve full decarbonisation, according to the head of Repsol.

Speaking in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, during the 24th World Petroleum Congress on Tuesday, Josu Jon Imaz said addressing the energy trilemma will require ensuring the “affordability of energy while pursuing the decarbonisation of our processes”.

Imaz said that while Repsol is transforming from a conventional oil producer into a multi-energy company, ramping up its renewable portfolio and low-carbon businesses other than fossil fuels, it will maintain a core focus on molecules, through investments in renewable fuels.

“People say decarbonising means electrifying, and that’s not true,” Imaz said in a panel discussion.

“When it comes to maritime, or heavy trucks, steelmakers, paper mills, fertilisers and chemicals plants – these [sectors] are not going to electrify. But we can decarbonise liquids through renewable fuels.”

Repsol currently produces around 1 million tonnes per annum of renewable fuels from waste, including used cooking oil. The company aims to increase output to 2.5 million tpa by 2030, with two-thirds of this volume produced with waste feedstocks, according to the executive.

The major is building a production unit at its plant in Cartagena, Spain, that will be set up to produce only renewable fuels. Start-up is scheduled for the end of this year or early 2024.

“We are changing the concept of our refineries to produce these products” that are based on non-petroleum feedstocks, said Imaz. “We have vegetable oil, cycle oil, animal fats, bio plastics.”

In an exclusive interview with Upstream earlier this year, Repsol deputy chief executive Luis Cabra said the evolution of the refining business is a “third pillar” of the company’s transition growth model driving revenue, together with the consolidation of upstream and the expansion of the renewables division.

For second generation renewable fuels, raw materials include agricultural and food industry waste, such as crop residues and animal fat, municipal organic waste and industrial waste.

Repsol is also developing capacity to produce synthetic liquid fuels (also known as e-fuels, or power-to-liquids) refined using carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The company established a joint venture with Saudi Aramco to set up an e-fuel production facility at a Bilbao industrial site.

“With biogas to produce hydrogen and electrolytes to produce hydrogen, [we can use] CO2 as a feedstock to produce a molecule,” said Imaz.

Heavy industry including maritime and aviation are looking at renewable and e-fuels options as a way to drive down emissions of their fleets.

Alexis von Hoensbroech, chief executive of airline WestJet, said his company had been modernising its fleet using more efficient engines that reduce fuel consumption.

“Our emission growth has decoupled from our company growth,” he said in the panel, but added that it will be through renewable fuels, such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), that aviation can realistically abate its emissions: “The way to eventually decarbonise [aviation] is in SAF, either produced from feedstock or, especially, power to liquids.”

Von Hoensbroech admitted that SAF now is “more like a pharmacy product – produced in small quantities and at high prices”.

But the potential for growth is sizeable. He estimated SAF could expand to 3 billion barrels of uptake by 2050, creating a market worth $1 trillion.

Imaz said the industry needs to make bold investments to ramp up capacity and drive down costs through scale and technology improvements.

For that to happen, he called on policymakers to lay out a regulation framework to attract industry investment.

“We need a clear bet from the industry to invest in these decarbonisation processes. But [the industry] needs a stable and predictable framework to invest, to ensure return on investment.

“We need tax support to allow cost reduction on this kind of product,” Imaz said. “I think that we have a clear arena to invest in there.”

upstreamonline.com 09 19 2023