SPAIN: Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria announces Spanish plans to approve biodiesel plan that could curtail multimillion-dollar imports from Argentina

Record ID: 449078

  • Title: SPAIN: Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria announces Spanish plans to approve biodiesel plan that could curtail multimillion-dollar imports from Argentina
  • Date: 21st April 2012
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (APRIL 20, 2012) (REUTERS) SPANISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SORAYA SAENZ DE SANTAMARIA ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE SAENZ DE SANTAMARIA PREPARING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain, Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA9D2HON801W0PY1IYWI91SO0BX
  • Story Text: Spain is planning a measure against Argentina that affects the use of biodiesel in retaliation of the Latin American country's seizure of a majority stake in oil firm YPF owned by Repsol the government said on Friday (April 20).
    Spain's industry ministry will approve the plan on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said after a weekly cabinet meeting.
    "The objective of this decision is to support Spanish and EU refineries so they can supply biodiesel under competitive conditions."
    Spain has threatened retaliation against Argentina's decision to expropriate 51 percent of oil company YPF from Spanish-owned Repsol.
    Official data show 8 percent of diesel used in Spain is made from oilseeds, or above a legal minimum of 6 percent fixed in order to comply with EU targets.
    Industry sources estimate Spain imported 720,000 tonnes of biofuel from Argentina in 2011, worth some 750 million euros. In all, 74 percent of biodiesel used in Spain is imported, and 90 percent of that comes from either Argentina or Indonesia.
    Spanish biofuel plants are currently running at an estimated 14 percent of capacity.
    Producers say biofuels help combat global warming because the plants used absorb more carbon dioxide than does the fuel they produce when it is burned.
    Environmentalists dispute that, saying account must be taken of land set aside for growing plants for biofuel, which they say could also be used for much-needed food, in many cases.
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