- Juan Andrés Díez de Ulzurrun, director of Enagas, has demanded the review of Álava’s underground gas. The project is paralyzed because the City of Vitoria-Gasteiz refused authorization because it is not compatible with the urban plan and because the Climate Change and Energy Transition Act approved by the Government of Spain prohibits new farms, but the government uses the decision.
He spoke loudly at the Díez de Ulzurrun conference, president of the Gas Bay of Bizkaia, Natural Gas, Geopolitics and Competitiveness, in the Chamber of Commerce of Bilbao. “In Álava we have [gas] resources. If in previous times we have been shrines, with the panorama we have now, we have to rise.” It has also argued that this should be done without debate: “Some say it for us to reactivate the debate, and I dare say it: What a debate and what a kick, let's explore what we once have at our feet, the lightning!"
The statements have sparked controversy, and the company has expressed in notes that Díez de Ulzurrun had made statements at “personal level”: “He is not an authorized spokesperson for the company, and his words do not represent the position of Enagas at all.” Enagas is one of the State’s major Gasistan companies, a member of IBEX 35, and owns, among others, the Gaviota Gaviota platform in Bermeo.
Stationary gas survey in Álava
The Basque Government and SHESA wanted to extract the gas existing in the soil of Vitoria-Gasteiz, for which they wanted to carry out a preliminary survey in the Armentia-2 well of Subijana. The City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz refused authorization, as the technicians determined that the project is incompatible with the General Plan of Urbanism. The Government appealed to the courts. Subsequently, the Government of Spain establishes the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, and its eighth article states that, once the law is passed, hydrocarbon exploitation or exploitation activities cannot be carried out, both on land and at sea. The Government, however, has not withdrawn the appeal.