2023-11-23 00:16:49
The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, has assured that he is “deviled” when he hears the profits obtained by the oil company in recent years referred to as “extraordinary profits.” In a conference organized by Alumni Esade, Imaz recalled that the group in 2021 and 2022 has not managed to recover the losses of 7.2 billion euros that it suffered in 2019 and 2020, especially in that year due to the impact of the pandemic. “Those were extraordinary losses,” the manager stressed, also recalling the company’s supportive behavior by keeping all of its activity open so that fuel could continue to be supplied in a particularly complicated situation, despite the slowdown in mobility that sank its accounts. . “We have recovered part of what we left behind in that effort in 2019 and 2020. But there were many companies and companies that also made that effort,” he said.
On the other hand, Imaz defended the role of the industry as “the country’s great engine and social elevator”, to guarantee that young people have “stable jobs with decent salaries.” “I’ve always believed in the industry,” she added. The Repsol executive thus called to defend “the model” that is wanted for Spain and Europe, “since we are risking the future”, and advocated guaranteeing the energy “trilemma” of security of supply, accessibility and decarbonization , the latter aspect in which he made it clear that the company is “committed”, representing 40% of its ‘capex’.
Furthermore, he did not hesitate to wink at the way in which the United States is facing the energy transition, with a greater commitment than Europe to incentives, and stated that Repsol has a renewable pipeline of 60 gigawatts (GW), of which 50 GW are in the United States. “And we are going to take advantage of US regulatory support for decarbonization,” reports Europa Press. In this same sense, he framed the decision to try to take his Exploration and Production (‘upstream’) business public in the United States in 2025, after the entry of EIG as a partner with a 25% stake. “We have to go to countries that are committed to ensuring that the world continues to have the fuel we need,” he said.
Imaz has defended the need to invest in gas extraction to promote the decarbonization of the economy, which must be accompanied by policies that support the business community. “If we do not invest in gas and oil, prices will rise and Third World countries will continue buying coal, the main cause of the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, which will cause them to continue to rise.” Likewise, he added that the company will seek to carry out prospecting in other regions outside Europe – mainly North America – to guarantee that the countries of the old continent do not suffer from energy dependence on third parties, as happened with the case of Russian gas, the lack of which triggered a strong price escalation in 2022.
On the other hand, in his speech Imaz referred to leadership, seen from his previous political activity, where he became Minister of Industry in Euskadi and president of the PNV, but, especially, at the head of Repsol, where he has been CEO since 2014. In this regard, he considered that crises “make or sink the leader”, which is why he assured that the entire professional stage experienced since he was appointed CEO of Repsol, shortly after the expropriation of YPF by Argentina, with a subsequent collapse of oil prices, a global commitment to climate change with the Paris COP and a pandemic, have served “as elements of leadership.”
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