Repsol is a Spanish multinational petroleum company, widely mentioned in oil and gas journals.

The information that follows was obtained from the Spanish-language Repsol Website (8 July 1998).

Repsol has grown continuously since it was formed in 1986. The privatization of Repsol concluded in 1997, and is now owned by more than one million stockholders. It is one of the largest oil companies of the European Union, and one of the 50 largest in the world. Its operations are worldwide, although they are concentrated mostly in Europe, North Africa and Latin America.

Repsol conducts exploration, produces, transports, refines and markets fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as electricity. In addition to finding new gas and petroleum reserves in five countries in 1997, the company bought proven reserves in Argentina and Venezuela, doubling its fossil fuel reserve ownership from two years earlier. Repsol has also expanded its affiliate company holdings through acquisition of stock from other companies or by companies in which it has joint or partial property.

Libya is one of the North African countries where Repsol has continued to expand its oil and gas exploration and production. By 1994 it had acquired reserves totalling some 96.4 million petroleum barrel equivalents. In late 1997 Repsol began extracting oil from field NC-115, ahead of schedule, as part of an international consortium involving the National Oil Company (NOC) of Libya in which Repsol is the oilfield operator. The initial production of 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) is expected to reach 100,000 bpd. Also in Libya, Repsol recently completed the 345 km. long pipeline to Hammada, which links the NC-115 development; it also conducted six developmental surveys (sondeos de desarrollo) and engineering works related to these projects.

By November 1997, Repsol's Libyan oil production was estimated at 50,000 bpd (U.S. Energy Information Administration Nov. 1997). Repsol has also led the development of the giant Muzruk basin (referred to as NC-115 above), estimated to hold 2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil (ibid.). The company's share in the project was purchased in 1993 for US$65 million, after the Romanian state oil company encountered financial difficulties; Repsol now leads a three-company European consortium at the site that includes Austrian OMV and France's Total (ibid.).

Libyan liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) arrives in Spain by ship and is processed by refineries in Barcelona and Huelva belonging to the Gas Natural SDG group, a company partly owned by Repsol (ibid; Gas natural SDG 1998). Recent plans in the region include the construction of a pipeline connecting Egyptian and Libyan oilfields to the existing Maghreb pipeline connecting Algerian and other oilfields to Spain (U.S. Energy Information Administration Nov. 1997).

Information on the number of employees directly or indirectly employed by Repsol and its affiliates could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Information on a recent agreement between Repsol and an oil production company in Alberta, Canada, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Gas Natural SDG, Spain. 1998. "Conexiones Internacionales." [Internet] http:// www.gasnaturalsdg.es/grugnm2.htm [Accessed 8 July 1998]

Repsol, Madrid. 1998. "Pagina Principal" and other Web pages. [Internet] http:// www.repsol.com/webrepsol/ [Accessed 8 July 1998]

United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), Washington, DC. November 1997. "Libya". Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy. [Internet] http:// www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/libya.html [Accessed 7 July 1998]

Africa Confidential [London]. Fortnightly.

Foreign Report [London]. Fortnightly.

Latin American Weekly Report [London].

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Global NewsBank, NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD, WNC.