Energy transition holds ‘enormous opportunity’, says Repsol boss

Repsol's chairman Antonio Brufau said that the energy transition represents an "enormous opportunity" for the company.
During the annual general share holders' meeting, he reviewed the key aspects of the energy transition, mainly in Europe, and the path towards zero net emissions by 2050.
Brufau highlighted the company’s plans to transform the industrial sites to produce renewable fuels together with conventional fuels..
He said: "We will make Repsol an ever-better company, adapted to the requirements of society, more profitable, at the forefront of innovation and ambitious in its objectives.”
The Chairman added: "As a society, our challenge is to transform the way we grow, our economy and our industry to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, but without losing our technological-industrial leadership".
According to Brufau, Europe is focused on the sustainability of the energy transition: "Decarbonisation requires solid technological and industrial foundations, free of ideologies and dogmatism, and a stable regulatory framework that encourages investment" to avoid a loss of competitiveness.”
In his speech, he reviewed the best and worst of the European reaction to the war in Ukraine.
On the positive side he highlighted the cohesion and solidarity of Europe and the policy of sanctions against Russia.
On this issue, he suggested that European regulation promotes the reduction of emissions at the cost of losing industrial infrastructure and competitiveness, since part of the emissions that are reduced in the European Union are exported to other countries that assume this industrial production.
"It is essential for Europe to change the way it builds value and supply chains so as not to depend even more on China or Russia in the energy transition," he stressed.
He also recalled that the European Union imports 55% of the energy it consumes, while the United States is a net exporter.