The Diplomat
Repsol has reduced in four countries its presence in exploration and production activities of hydrocarbons in the world, with its exit of this business in Australia, Irak, Ireland and Morocco, as informed to Europa Press by sources of the sector.
This decision is part of the fulfillment of its Strategic Plan 2021-2025, which the company launched last November as a new ‘road map’ and which foresees to go from 26 countries to 14 in this business in the next five years. Thus, the global upstream presence of the group led by Josu Jon Imaz will now be reduced to a total of 22 countries.
As part of its strategy for the next five years, Repsol will focus its hydrocarbon exploration and production business on key geographic areas, prioritizing value over volume and reducing emissions from its asset portfolio, which will continue to be actively managed.
Likewise, the activity in this area will be based on its strengths, such as flexibility, efficiency and high technological level, which will allow it to increase its contribution to the group and generate positive cash flow despite reducing investment intensity.
Thus, in these four countries the company is in the process of exiting, pending official ratification. In Ireland, Repsol has divested its interest in the Dunquin offshore exploration area, which has a net area of 435 square kilometers. Last August, the Irish authorities gave their consent to this process.
In Iraq, the multi-energy company had mining rights over a development block with a net area of 301 square kilometers, while in Morocco, the company had a 75% interest in the Ghrab Offshore Sud block, with a net area of 7,026 square kilometers.
Last November 26, at the press conference to present the strategic plan, Repsol’s CEO, Josu Jon Imaz, already announced that the group’s goal was to reduce the number of countries in the world where it has a presence in this business to 14. “It is one of the objectives of the Strategic Plan to be more efficient in the upstream area,” he said.
Over the last few years Repsol has already taken steps in this strategy with the sale of exploration assets in countries such as Romania, Angola, Namibia and Papua New Guinea, among others.
The 2021-2025 strategic plan of the group chaired by Antonio Brufau, which will mark the transformation of the company and will accelerate the energy transition, envisages total investments of 18.3 billion euros over the period. Of this amount, 5.5 billion euros, 30% of the total, will be earmarked for low-carbon initiatives.
