Josu Jon Imaz assures the energy transition is “done wrong”

Euskaraz irakurri: Trantsizio energetikoa “gaizki” starts with Josu Jon Imazek

Joshua Jon Imaz assured this Wednesday that the energy transition “is done wrong” because Spain, a “heavy gas consumer”, has “wrongly” decided to ban the exploration and production of gas. In this sense, he has confirmed that the climate change law passed in 2021 banning gas exploration and extraction in Spain is “a serious mistake” and that “the same is being done in Europe”.

For example, he said it is necessary to invest in renewable energy, but “we also need to make it possible for companies to invest in oil and gas, because if we don’t make this possible, prices will continue to rise and the problem will become dissolved.” taller”.

The CEO of Repsol participated this Wednesday in the VII Energy Forum organized by elEconomista.es in which the main leaders of the Spanish energy sector have come together to debate the keys that will pave the way to energy independence.

At that forum, he assured that “we are urging investors to get out of the oil and gas industry and that we are drowning the financial community so they don’t invest in oil and gas production.” This, as he explained, has led to a decline in gas production in Europe, which: is entrusted to Russia “dependence” on gas in recent years.

“Demand keeps going up, and you don’t have to be a Harvard PhD in economics to know that if production goes down, because we let it fall and demand goes up, prices go up. This is what causes what’s happening.” with the energy,” he said. In that sense, he added that “it is clear that the invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s threats are making the gas rise even more”.

For this reason, he chose rethink the energy transition. “We have to think that this is a transition, not an energy revolution, because the energy revolution is being paid for by consumers, by families in their electricity and gas bills, and by industries that have to pay for their operations.”

Imaz has assured that “we need a transition that ensures security of supply” because “we need hydrocarbons and will need it for many years to come, and we will need oil and gas for decades to come”.

Imaz has emphasized that this should all be compatible with the reduction of CO2 emissions. “A poorly planned energy transition not only stifles hydrocarbon production, makes it impossible for families and businesses to pay energy bills, but also increases carbon emissions,” he said.

In this sense, he criticized the fact that an “ideological” energy transition has been made in Europe, where we select and reject and prevent investments in certain energy sources for ideological, not technological reasons. For this reason, he has proposed to reconsider this transition and “base ourselves on the principle of energy neutrality, because we need all energy resources and we have to produce gas”.

Imaz has said that “we are making policies in the name of environmental awareness, decarbonization and climate change, but these measures, in addition to impoverishing families and negatively impacting industrial activity, are increasing CO2 emissions in the world.”

Tax on extraordinary profit

Asked about the tax on extraordinary profits of energy companies, Imaz assured that people are being misled, saying that it is the law of three lies: “it is not a tax, it is not about profit, nor about anything extraordinary.

Likewise, he explained that it seems “reasonable” to defend a regulated market in which, in an exceptional situation “such as the one we are experiencing now, in which there is an energy source, such as gas, which is rising sharply” there is a disconnection or temporary price intervention with with respect to the rest of the energies (nuclear, hydraulic, wind, solar), so that the rest of the energies may have a temporary limit”.