Enagás and Reganosa have signed an agreement by which Enagás has acquired a network of 130 km of natural gas pipelines from Reganosa for €54 million. In return Reganosa has purchased a 25% stake in the El Musel Regasification plant in Gijon for €95.2 million.
According to the agreement terms, Enagás acquires the whole of the transmission network which up to now was owned by Reganosa and consists of 130 km of gas pipelines of 80 bar. This network is included in the Backbone network and is key to guarantee the security of supply as well as the proper functioning of the Iberian gas market. It connects to the LNG terminal of Mugardos and the Tui – Llanera gas pipeline in Guitiriz and Abegondo. It has three measuring stations, three regulation and measurement stations and thirteen valve positions. The transmission network brings natural gas directly to the combined cycle power plants of As Pontes (800 MW) and Sabón (400 MW), to the refinery of A Coruña (120.000 barrels/day) and the towns of As Pontes and Cerceda.
In addition, Reganosa has given Enagás its position as promoter of the hydrogen pipeline between Guitiriz (Lugo) and Zamora, candidate for Project of Common Interest (PCI). Enagás, for its part, undertakes to promote the development of this transmission infrastructure and its connection to the interconnection with Portugal, ensuring the full integration of renewable hydrogen production in the area with the future hydrogen corridors in the Iberian Peninsula, with the aim of it becoming operational by 2030. Enagás will promote and give continuity to the processing of this infrastructure as PCI and will have the support of Reganosa to expedite its approval. The agreement favours the creation of a large energy hub in the north-west of the peninsula which will reinforce Spain’s role as the hub for renewable hydrogen in Europe.
For its part Reganosa enters the shareholding with a 25% of the El Musel Terminal in Gijon, which until now was solely the property of Enagás and which has a storage capacity of 300,000m3 of LNG, shared between two tanks of 150,000 m3 each. It also has mooring and unloading installations designed for the largest methane vessels in the world, the QMAX of up to 266,000 m3.
The El Musel terminal, as contemplated in the Government’s Plan for More Energy Security, is ready to be put into operation for logistical use soon, once the current administrative procedures are completed. Once in operation, it can provide up to 8 billion cubic meters (bcm)/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to strengthen Europe’s energy security of supply.
This agreement reinforces both companies, allowing to take advantage of their synergies and work together on new possibilities for collaboration to strengthen security of supply and progress with the decarbonisation objectives of Spain and Europe.
Uría Menéndez advised with a Corporate team made up of partners Carlos de Cárdenas (Finance), Juan Ignacio González (Energy) and Martín Jordano (Corporate and M&A), a Tax team including partner Rafael García Llaneza and a Competition team with partner Antonio Guerra.
Pinsent Masons advised Enagás and Enagás Transporte with a team led by partner Alfonso Bayona with support from partner Juan de Navasqüés, and associates Pablo Galera and Marta Vila-Coro. This is the first deal of the new Energy team in the Madrid office that will be led by Hermenegildo Altozano.
