Galp admits new investments in Sines, but asks for greater predictability

A Galp admits new investments in Sines, but only if there is a regulatory framework to anticipate future demand for fuels, Lusa said official source of the company.

“Galp considers promoting additional investments, but they will only be viable with a regulatory framework to anticipate future long-term demand,” said Lusa’s official oil source, following the European Commission’s call to halt the closure of refineries and increase fuel production in the European Union (EU).

Asked about the possibility of increasing production at the Sines refinery with the capacity already installed, Galp indicated that the plant has operated “very close to its maximum capacity”, and therefore additional investments would be needed.

Galp assigns the high levels of use of the refinery to the investments made over the years in the modernisation and maintenance of the installations, pointing out as examples the planned stop in the last quarter of 2025, which it classified as the largest ever, and an intervention currently underway in a unit which it considers essential to meet the national needs of diesel and aviation fuel.

According to the company, the investments currently under way in Sines, in particular in the production of green hydrogen and in the construction of a production unit for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and renewable fuels for road transport (HVO), enable the achievement of the mandatory national targets for incorporating these fuels by 2030.

However, Galp points out that “there is still no regulatory initiative that supports investments in additional capacity for the following decade”, contrasting the Portuguese situation with that of Spain, where incorporation targets are already known by 2040, he added.

Oil also points to differences in the incentives granted in both countries, indicating that a 100 megawatt electrolysis unit (MW) in Spain, equivalent to that which has almost completed in Sines for green hydrogen production, has benefited from support of EUR 150 million.

In Portugal, according to the company, support for “nine million euros, there is the imposition of an extraordinary tax”.

Galp therefore stresses that “any additional investment decision will of course be assessed according to market prospects, competitive conditions and predictability of the applicable regulatory framework”.

The company still sees with satisfaction the launch of the European Commission’s Strategic Dialogue on European Refineries, considering that it represents a recognition of the importance of the sector for the economy, industrial competitiveness and energy security.

Galp considers that the announced joint roadmap for the transformation of industry, the technical monitoring of short-term measures and the Commission’s political support for the development of a strategy for refining are “a good starting point to promote competitiveness and the transformation of the sector”.

It argues, however, that this initiative must be translated into “concrete measures that promote conditions of competitiveness, regulatory predictability and investment in modernising and transforming European industrial capacity”.

The statements arise after the European Commission has defended on Wednesday the need to stop the closure of refineries and increase fuel production in the EU.

After a meeting with industry representatives in Brussels, European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen warned that about a quarter of EU refineries have closed in the last 20 years, reducing the refining capacity of the block by approximately 10%.

With regard to fuel supply during the winter of 2026/2027, Galp highlighted the role of the Sines refinery in national energy security, highlighting the “high levels of efficiency and operational reliability” of the unit.

According to the company, the refinery “presents a surplus production of gasoline in the face of the needs of the national market and has diesel production capacity, complemented by Galp’s supply activity on international markets, to meet the needs of its customers”.