Changes to the hydrocarbons sector and a new tax on extracting gas and oil

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. Wholesale operators of petroleum products must provide, along with their responsible declaration, proof of a guarantee deposited with the Caja General de Depósitos. They may also be temporarily suspended during sanction proceedings, for example for tax fraud.
2. For liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), piped supply is defined, and wholesale operators and bulk retailers must hold civil liability insurance. Bulk retailers must supply any requester within their province of operation.
3. An organized natural gas market is created, with an operator that will manage buy and sell offers and publish prices and volumes anonymously. The operating company must be up and running within four months of the law taking effect.
4. The Tax on the Value of the Extraction of Gas, Oil and Condensates is created, taxing what is extracted in Spanish territory. It has a progressive scale based on production volume, with rates between 1% and 8% depending on the product, volume, and whether extraction is onshore or offshore.
5. The surface fee is reorganized and two new rates are created: one for each well drilled (125,000 euros onshore and 600,000 offshore) and another for seismic surveys.
6. Holders of exploitation concessions must pay landowners above the deposits 1% of the value of the hydrocarbons extracted each year, distributed according to the size of each plot. Non-payment can lead to the concession being terminated.
7. The sanction regime is overhauled: many new serious and very serious offenses are added, maximum deadlines for rulings are set (18 months for serious and very serious offenses, 9 for minor ones), and daily coercive fines of 100 to 10,000 euros may be imposed.
8. The State Budget will allocate funds to the Autonomous Communities and municipalities where exploration, research and exploitation of hydrocarbons takes place, to offset the effects of these activities in those territories.

Who it affects

• Wholesale operators and retailers of petroleum products and LPG: New guarantees, insurance, supply obligations and more sanctionable offenses.
• Natural gas companies: They must operate in the new organized gas market and meet minimum security stock rules.
• Concession holders of hydrocarbon deposits: New taxes, fees, metering devices and payments to landowners.
• Landowners above deposits: They are entitled to an annual payment of 1% of the value of extracted hydrocarbons.
• Gas and LPG consumers: More protection: supply obligations, complaint handling and rules for switching suppliers.

Words worth knowing

Declaración responsable (responsible declaration)

A document in which someone declares they meet the legal requirements to run an activity, without needing prior authorization.

Operador al por mayor (wholesale operator)

A company that sells petroleum products to other companies, which then distribute them to end consumers.

Canon de superficie (surface fee)

A fee paid for using publicly owned subsoil through hydrocarbon permits or concessions.

Multas coercitivas (coercive fines)

Daily fines imposed to force compliance with a ruling, separate from the main penalty.

Silencio administrativo (administrative silence)

What happens when the administration does not answer within the deadline: the request is deemed rejected.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries