After more than 95 years, Cepsa will stop calling itself that and will become Moeve. It is a historical milestone, the company assures that it is more about the substance of the decision than the name.
As they explained today at a press conference, the change reflects a transformation with which they intend for most of their benefits to come from sustainable activities at the end of the decade.
As it had already announced a few months ago, Cepsa has a planned investment to accelerate its decarbonization and that of its clients of up to 8,000 million euros, of which more than 60% will be allocated to sustainable businesses such as the production of green hydrogen, second generation (2G) biofuels and sustainable chemicals, as well as ultra-fast electric recharging.
This represents a continuation of the Positive Motion strategy, launched in March 2022, which involved the launch of a large number of projects and the development of several alliances with more than 60 companies from various sectors to promote the different value chains and implementation. of these projects.
The company is developing the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, the largest project presented to date in Europe, which in 2030 expects to have a capacity of 2000 MW. In addition, it has promoted the creation of the first maritime corridor between the ports of Algeciras and Huelva with the port of Rotterdam to link the south and north of Europe and is working on the development of new green methanol and ammonia plants together with its partners.
Likewise, it is developing what will be the largest 2G biofuels complex in southern Europe, located in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), with an annual production capacity of one million tons of sustainable aviation fuel -SAF- and diesel. renewable -HVO-. Currently, the company already markets these sustainable fuels in seven of the main Spanish airports and in more than 60 ports in the country in which it operates.
The energy company is also advancing with its partners in the development of nearly 30 biomethane plants in Spain and projects to recover waste for the production of this biogas, a substitute for natural gas.
These are just some examples of the decarbonization activities that the company wanted to highlight today and that justify this change. «Today is a historic day for the family of more than 11,000 professionals who make up the company. But also for our clients, partners, suppliers and other interest groups, to whom we want to contribute a positive impact. I am excited to communicate the change of a great brand, Cepsa, which has been with us for more than 90 years, to tell the world that we are transforming into another type of organization, Moeve, in which most of its profit will come from activities sustainable at the end of this decade,” said Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Cepsa.
Regarding the new logo, PierreYves Sachet, Brand Manager and Business Director of Mobility & New Commerce, explained that “Moeve is a unique name designed to lead customers, markets and society as a whole towards a better future. Moeve’s new identifying colors are characterized by inspiring tones that challenge the established, breaking with the past to open the door to a world of sustainable energy and mobility aligned with our new strategy,” he says.
The announcement that took place today will be accompanied by the progressive implementation of the new brand in all its service stations, which will start in the month of November, at a rate of about 600 stations a year, until reaching more than 1,800 that The company has in Spain and Portugal. Likewise, the company will launch a new global advertising campaign in the coming days.
They abandon the name 95 years later
When it was founded in 1929 as the public limited company Compañía Española de Petróleos, Cepsa was the first Spanish private oil company, then focused on well exploration, first in Venezuela and from the 1930s on in the Canary Islands. In 1949 it acquired a 24% stake in the newly established Escombreras Petroleum Refinery (REPESA), and in the following decade it was the first Spanish manufacturer of lubricants.
Even so, the true international expansion of this energy company did not come until the 1990s. In 1988 the direction of the company changed with the agreement to take over IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company) as a shareholder, a firm originally from Abu Dhabi – the current owner of the company – which took 10% of its capital with the objective to strengthen crude oil supplies and open markets and collaborations in the Persian Gulf.
A year later there was the entry of ELF Aquitaine, a French oil company – the future Total SA – that would buy a 20.5% stake in Cepsa, and in 1991, the acquisition of the lubricants company Ertoil, an operation that allowed the acquisition of a third refinery in Huelva, which was added to the other two that the company already had at that time.
This spurred the internationalization process, which had as its milestone the construction in 1995 of what would be CEPSA’s first chemical industrial plant in Canada, which was followed by two others in Canada and the United Kingdom and the acquisition of 72% of DETEN Química, in Brazil.
At the end of the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century, the energy company added the gas market to its strategy, investing in oil and gas wells in Algeria. Today it is already the second shareholder of the Medgaz project, with 42% of the shares, and is present in Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
Thus we arrive at 2011, a key year because then the purchase of 48.8% of the capital until then held by Total SA by Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) took place. The Arab fund, which already owned 47% of the company, launched a takeover bid for 100%, causing Cepsa to stop trading on the stock market on August 8, 2011. Since 2019, the other major owner is the Carlyle investment fund of Carlyle Group, which acquired 37% of the company.
In the middle of the controversy
This announcement occurs in the middle of the open controversy between the two main Spanish oil companies with the Government on account of the tax on energy companies.
The Executive’s intention is to make this tax permanent. A situation that will be decided in the next few hours, although for the moment it has the votes against Junts and possibly PNV.
Given this situation, Repsol and Cepsa have challenged the Government of Pedro Sánchez. Both companies have suspended, or are in the process of investing in renewable hydrogen. Likewise, both energy companies assure that if this tax is successful they will move their investment plans outside of Spain.
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