CAPITAL: Madrid

MONETARY UNIT: Peseta

REFINING CAPACITY: 1,293,650 b/cd

OIL PRODUCTION: 9,000 b/d

OIL RESERVES: 30 million bbl

GAS RESERVES: 500 bcf

Spain was working to overhaul its laws governing the oil sector, but actions were delayed because the government thought competition was insufficient in some retail sectors.

The government lifted a 9-month freeze on LPG prices in mid-1997 and was considering removing the current ceiling prices for gasoline.

It planned to order changes in the gas market in 1998, making it easier for third parties to access the natural gas transportation system by slashing the threshold volume for direct sales to 875 Mcfd.

The action was expected to give about 1,500 manufacturing and other firms the opportunity to buy gas directly from producers.

Repsol SA and Iberdrola Investimentos Soc. Unipessoal Ltda. formed a 50-50 joint venture to build combined-cycle and cogeneration plants, including a planned integrated gasification combined-cycle plant at Bilbao. Total power production capacity for the program will be about 3,000 MW.

Amoco Corp. and three Spanish energy groups (Ente Vasco de la Energia, Repsol/Gas Natural, and Iberdrola Investimentos Soc. Unipessoal Ltda.) were studying the possibility of building a $1.1 billion liquefied natural gas regasification terminal and integrated power project at Bilbao.

The plant would be rated at 2.3 billion cu m/year. The combined cycle power plant would be about 350 MW.

In Spanish drilling activity, Repsol SA`s Boqueron-1 wildcat off the Tarragona coast flowed at a rate of 10,000 b/d of 38° gravity oil.

The extended-reach well was drilled at angles as great as 60° to a true vertical depth of 4,653 m and was completed 3 km north of the Casablanca platform.

The find, a satellite to Casablanca field, was put into production. The crude is processed on the Casablanca platform and piped to Repsol`s Tarragona refinery via an existing 50-km, 12-in. subsea line.