infrastructure

invest a million in an infrastructure that has been ruined for decades

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The capture of Nicolás Maduro by US forces has left to Donald Trump’s administration as de facto “guardian” of the richest oil sector —and at the same time more punished. In this new geopolitical board, Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz was selected to participate in a key meeting in the East Room of the White House along with other oil giants. According to BloombergRepsol is now seeking urgent licenses to resume the export of crude oil, an activity that was frozen after the trade embargo of March 2025. The slogan so that Repsol can fulfill its strategic plan and take its business to the stock market upstream (exploration and production) on Wall Street, needs its Venezuelan assets to stop being a risk accounting entry and become real barrels. Resuscitate a “broken” industry. During the meeting, Trump has asked the oil companies a joint investment of 100 billion dollars to revive an obsolete industry. But the infrastructure it’s so deteriorated that the state-owned PDVSA has gone so far as to dismantle oil pipelines to sell the metal as scrap. Even so, as RTVE has explainedRepsol has promised to triple its production, going from 45,000 to 135,000 barrels per day within three years. titanic challenge. Venezuelan crude oil is “extra heavy”, thick as tarand arrives at the refineries “dirty”, loaded with salt and metals. Only companies with historical roots such as Repsol (present in the country since 1993) have the know-how to process this “heavy food.” But the problem is not just oil. 90% of what Repsol produces in the La Perla field It’s natural gasa resource that powers 33% of Venezuela’s electricity supply. Without Repsol gas, the country goes out; But for this gas to be profitable and exportable, the company needs to build liquefaction plants that simply do not exist today. “Pragmatism in the face of the Trump environment”. To facilitate the disembarkation, Washington has declared a “national emergency” that allows the US Treasury to shield Venezuelan oil revenues in US accounts. This measure, qualified by Expansion like an unprecedented movementseeks to prevent funds from being confiscated by the thousands of creditors waiting at the door, offering the “total security” that Trump promised executives. While Repsol declares itself “ready to invest strongly,” ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods threw a cold bucket of water on the White House itself. According to the Financial TimesWoods affirmed that Venezuela remains “uninvestable” without drastic changes in the legal framework and recalled that its assets were confiscated twice in the past. On the horizon. Repsol walks through a financial minefield. Still carries a property debt of 330 million euros from PDVSA. Furthermore, Financial Times warns that competitors like Chevron have an advantage due to their close personal relationship with Trump and for having maintained constant operations under special licenses during the years of the embargo. Added to this is the warning from analyst Ron Bousso in Reuters: Trump has suggested that companies should “forget” past debts to start on a “level playing field.” For Repsol, this could mean definitively giving up collecting what was lost under Chavismo in exchange for maintaining its future exploitation rights. A final bet. The company must decide whether to bury billions in rebuilding fossil infrastructure in a world clamoring for the energy transition. The “hole” of 1,160 million euros in Spain’s trade deficit with Venezuela It is just the symptom of a dangerous dependency. Venezuela is still the largest gas station in the world, but today it is a facility in ruins. Repsol’s success will no longer depend only on its technical expertise in the Quiriquire or La Perla fields, but on its ability to dance to the rhythm set by Washington in a reconstruction that, according to expertscould take decades to complete. Image | Repsol Xataka | Getting hold of Venezuela’s immense oil reserves seems like a “bargain.” It’s actually an engineering nightmare.

Europe believes it has won the gas war against Russia, but it has forgotten one small detail: infrastructure

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Europe has made a historic decision: 2027 will be the year in which the last trace of Russian gas disappear from the energy system of the continent. However, between the offices in Brussels and the reality of homes there is a chasm that is not measured in cubic meters, but in months of construction. The continent’s security no longer depends on diplomacy with the Kremlin, but on the speed at which terminals can be erected, tubes connected and ships deployed. The new European sovereignty is in the hands of the engineers. A system to build. As analyst Giacomo Prandelli explainsthe focus of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market has been on the price, but the real crisis is infrastructure. Europe is in a frantic race to replace Russian gas, but much of the necessary capacity is still under construction or in the planning phase. This has created a golden opportunity for a very select group of companies that own the physical assets. According to Prandelli, there are vital European companies that still go unnoticed. He gives as an example a firm valued at 662 million euros that operates “at a bargain price”: Their profits are very high compared to their stock market value and, most importantly, they already have government contracts secured until 2030. They are, basically, the owners of the “plugs” that Europe is forced to go through. The reasons for structural change. The reason for this urgency is an irreversible “divorce”. According to data collected by OilPriceRussian exports by gas pipeline to Europe have fallen by 44% in 2025, reaching lows in the 1970s. The definitive closure of the Ukrainian route this December leaves the continent without its historic arteries. The reasons for this new reality are three: US dependence: US gas It already represents 56% of LNG imports in Europe. The July 2025 agreementby which the EU will buy 750 billion dollars in energy from the US, has reconfigured the global board. The physical rigidity of the system: Although there is plenty of gas in the global market, European regasification plants (especially in the Netherlands) have operated at the limit of their technical capacity. Spain has the gas, but cannot send it to the rest of Europe: its pipelines with France they only allow export 8,500 million m³ per year. The problem is not the lack of fuel, it is the “funnel” of the pipes. Gas as an eternal backup: A report from McKinsey & Company issues an uncomfortable warning: Gas demand will grow by 26% until 2050. Europe needs gas to stabilize its electricity grid when renewables fail. The energy transition, far from eliminating gas, has turned it into a “permanent strategic pillar.” The Black Sea axis and the ghost fleet. However, the European wall has cracks. Hungary and Slovakia they keep injecting money to the Kremlin via the Druzhba pipeline and the TurkStream route. While Brussels asks for disconnection, Budapest and Bratislava build new connections towards the Black Sea, claiming that the cut would be “economic suicide.” Added to this is the fear of the “ghost fleet.” Brussels fears that Russian gas will repeat the oil scriptan opaque market of ships that change flag and documentation to hide the origin of the gas. To avoid this, the EU has imposed fines of up to 3.5% of global turnover and certificate of origin systems, but the crude oil precedent shows that, when Europe closes a door, the market usually opens a clandestine window. Europe’s floating lifebuoy. Given the slowness of concrete, a technical solution arises. According to Professor Alexandre Munspoints towards FSRUs (Floating Storage and Regasification Units). These ships are mobile regasification plants that use the heat of the sea to process the gas. According to Muns, their advantages are the speed of deployment and the cost since they can be rented for about $155,000 per day. Giants such as Excelerate Energy or Höegh LNG are those that today allow the EU to keep the pulse. Without these ships, the gas crossing the Atlantic simply would have nowhere to enter the continent. The tyranny of the calendar. Europe closes 2025 with deceptive calm. As reported by El Economistaprices have fallen to four-year lows (€27/MWh) thanks to a mild winter and the constant flow of ships. But, as the president of Sedigas, Joan Batalla, warns, this stability is “conditional.” Any extreme cold snap or technical failure in a saturated terminal could skyrocket prices again, because the network operates without margin for error. Europe’s autonomy is no longer negotiated in Moscow; It is built in the ports of Germany, in the interconnections of the Pyrenees and in the FSRU shipyards. The success of the 2027 plan will not depend on politicians’ promises, but on cranes and welders finishing their work before the climate changes the rules of the game. Image | freepik Xataka | The European Union has finally made the decision that has terrified it for so many years: stop importing Russian gas

Portable batteries are part of urban infrastructure in China. I have tried them and I need them to arrive in Europe

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After a decade of writing about gadgets and tens of thousands of miles of travel under my belt, a few weeks ago a destination managed to make me nervous. I was traveling, for the first time, to China. A few days before leaving, I realized that I did not have any batteries with the necessary certification and buying them in Spain is complicated. My idea was to get one there, but to my surprise I came across reality: hives of external batteries on every corner. Below I will tell you about my experience renting one and testing its loading speed. Powerbanks as urban infrastructure. A few months ago, my colleague Javier He already commented on his fascination with this ecosystem of external batteries that anyone can rent. It is really not something so new, since it has running since 2017 and its concept is very interesting. In China we need the cell phone for everything (AliPay and Wechat They are two apps that are your bank, your transportation card, your payment card, your way of ordering in restaurants and much more) and it is something that drains the battery. Therefore, the idea arose to locate stations with several external rental batteries at strategic points in the city. The market is dominated by four companies, they are in the main cities and the process is as simple as: Scan the station’s QR code. Take one of the removable batteries. Use them while we eat or move. Return them to any other point on the network (it does not have to be at the station where we took it). Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka renting one. For me, who went with a iPhone 16 in your pocket (whose battery is no wonder), having something like this available was a lifesaver. And, since science doesn’t do itself, during breakfast I rented one available at my hotel with the intention of using it while I ate and returning it just before leaving. The process is indicated just above these lines and, in my case, I used AliPay. Photo: Xataka You have to go with the application previously configured and, in my case, I loaded a Revolut prepaid card. I didn’t have any problems during the week I was in Beijing. I scanned the QR code of the charging station with AliPay itself and… blessed translation system. It works when it wants and it translates some things regularly, but enough to understand it. The price is 0.12 yuan per minute (about 0.014 euros), but since I don’t have a bank account in China, I had to pay a deposit of 99 yuan (about 12 euros). As soon as I paid, the app told me what power bank I had to remove it and the station itself made the corresponding battery LED flash. To load. Charging experience. The first thing I liked is that you don’t need absolutely anything other than the battery. This includes a USB-C, Lightning and even micro-USB cable. They are short cables, but they are appreciated so you don’t have to carry yours in your pocket. It has LEDs that indicate the charge level and there really isn’t much more to say about the design. Regarding their characteristics, it depends, but they usually have 5,000 mAh and the big asterisk is in the power. 5V/2.4A It is about 12 W and that implies that it will charge at a slow speed. But hey, it is designed so that you can carry it for a while or while you eat and spend at least half an hour/an hour with it. Photo: Xataka On my iPhone 16, the charging times were as follows: I started with 26% battery and in 30 minutes I reached 45%. At 60 minutes it had reached 64%. After 90 minutes it was charged up to 82%. As I say, a slow experience, but I see it as feasible to spend an hour eating or walking between stores, and recovering 38% allows you to survive the rest of the day. When you return it, you have a map where you see all the available stations. I simply went to a different one, clicked on the finalize the transaction button, scanned the QR again and inserted it into the indicated slot. The final price was 14 yuan after almost two hours in my possession, about 1.73 euros to my account. And, the next day, I already had the 99 yuan deposit back in my Revolut. Reviews. Discussing the move with our teammates, we agreed that the price is not high for us, that we use the euro and for those 1.7 euros, well… it allowed me to continue the rest of the day. But we also wonder how the Chinese would view those 14 yuan. And it seems not very well. One of the complaints It is precisely that the price has been increasing in some points. If at the beginning it cost one yuan per hour, now it ranges between two and six. The reason is that it depends a lot on the location (more or less tourist areas, hospitals, hotels, bars, etc.). Coupled with the fact that it is a very fair power and cell phones have more and more battery life, it is almost better to buy an external battery if you know that every now and then you have to rent at one of these stations (which, in addition, can be full at times and you have to go around looking for another one to return the battery. The businesses themselves have also been dissatisfied at times, since it is a market monopolized by a few companies that, evidently, control both the rental price and the profits. Future. Despite this, for tourists, it is an extremely attractive option due to its convenience and because, let’s not fool ourselves, the exchange rate to our currency is favorable to us. And for the industry, it represents an important benefit. In 2020, … Read more

Madrid plays 23.4 billion with data centers. The risk of losing them is in the electrical infrastructure

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Madrid has managed to position itself as The great HUB Digital of Southern Europe For the data centers industry, but the electrical infrastructure of the twentieth century cannot support the growth of the 21st century. Why is it important. The Community of Madrid leads Spain in data centers with 23.4 billion euros in investments planned until 2028. But 82% saturation This leadership puts this leadership against other European regions. In figures: Madrid concentrates 54.8% of the national capacity of data centers with 216 MW in operation. The forecasts point to 522 MW when the works under construction and up to 1.7 GW in 2030. The sector has grown 33% last year and will generate 35,000 jobs in six years. The threat. Ayuso is preparing allegations against what he considers A “over -regulation” of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, but the real problem is on the network. Electric distributors denied six out of ten access requests last year. Without immediate improvements, Spain would have already lost 60,000 million in investments, according to the employer’s calculations, Spain DC, collected by Digital economy. Between the lines. The Madrid paradox is evident: The region produces just 1,334 GWh … … but consume 27,487 GWh per year. It is an energy black hole that works because Spain exports electricity and technological ones sign long -term contracts. But that does not solve the saturation of the distribution network. What is happening. The Government He has put a Royal Decree until September 15 which will force data centers to report their environmental footprint, energy consumption and water use. Madrid considers that it can subtract competitiveness, but it is a minor problem compared to the lack of electrical capacity. Deepen. Spain DC claims an urgent modernization plan, and The electric ones ask the CNMC to raise the remuneration rate of 6.46% to 7.5% To invest in a network. The cost will be paid by consumers at the light bill, but without that investment Madrid will lose the train centers train against Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Paris. In Xataka | Emptied Spain has been filled with solar mills and panels, but waste energy for a simple reason: there are no cables Outstanding image | Community of Madrid

Walmart has already approved the first green hydrogen truck in Latin America. Its great limit: the load infrastructure

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What if the future of heavy logistics in Latin America had already begun, and would have done it with a single truck? In a region where the transport of goods depends largely on diesel engines, Walmart has achieved homologation of the First Tonnage Tonnage Moved by Green Hydrogen. It happens in Chile, with a vehicle that, on paper, It can exceed 700 km of operation without issuing CO2. It is a test, for the moment. But one that marks the beginning of something much bigger. Chile has not only been the country chosen to test this truck: it has also been the engine of a public-private collaboration that seeks to open the way in heavy transport without emissions. Walmart participates in the Hidrohaul program, promoted by the Corporation for Production Promotion (Corfo), with an initial investment of 6.15 million dollars and a clear goal: Check if this technology can climb. An experiment that can mark a before and after For Walmart, the experiment fits with Its global objective to decarbonize all its logistics operation before 2040. For Chile, it is a general essay of what could become a National Transportation Network Green hydrogen driven. Manufactured by the Chinese company Feichi Technologythe truck uses a hydrogen fuel battery that generates the electricity that feeds its engine. Can transport up to 49 tons and is designed to travel up to 750 km per full load with 75 kg of hydrogen. Although it does not seem, this truck is also an electric vehicle. The difference is how that electricity generates. Instead of loading a battery connecting to the network, use a Hydrogen fuel battery: A system that mixes hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, water and heat. That electricity feeds an electric motor that drives the truck. There is no combustion, there is no CO2. And as a byproduct, it only emits water vapor. It is a different way to reach the same destination: a heavy transport without emissions. It all starts in Quilicurain the metropolitan area of Santiago. There, Walmart Chile installed in 2023 The first green hydrogen industrial plant in the countryin collaboration with Engie. The installation has a 0.6 MW electrolyzer which uses electricity from renewable sources – solar and wind – to separate water molecules and generate hydrogen. That plant not only supplies the new truck: it also feeds a fleet of hydrogen lifting wheelbarrows that already operate in the logistics center. The refueling, the great challenge for this to climb The autonomy of the truck is sufficient to operate within the central area of the country, but not beyond. Today there is no public network of trucks for trucks. The challenge is not only technical, but also logistical and economic: how many trucks will need to justify a hydroiner? ¿Where to place them To cover routes without wasting resources? In scenarios like Californiathe order of dozens of high volume stations is projected to serve several thousand trucks towards the beginning of the next decade. Chile will have to solve its own puzzle. The big question is not whether hydrogen works, but it is worth betting on it. In long -running trucks, it has clear advantages: autonomy, quick recharges, zero emissions and lower impact of weight than in pure electric. But it is still a expensive technology, with a limited refueling network and a lower energy efficiency compared to other options. It is not a universal solution, but a useful tool on the right place. That is precisely what Chile is trying to find out: if the hydrogen fits on its real logistics map. Images | Walmart Chile In Xataka | Welcome to the silent collapse of energy: In the US, AI is beginning to drain the country’s electricity

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