Repsol to sell upstream unit stake for $5bn to US investor

Repsol has agreed to sell a 25 per cent stake in its upstream business for about $5bn to a US investment group that is a prelude to a potential US listing as Spain’s biggest oil company seeks to fund its green transition.

The Spanish energy group is to receive $4.8bn for the holding in the business, valued in the deal at about $19bn. The unit produces an average of 570,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent, 70 per cent of it in the form of natural gas.

The deal to EIG, a US specialist energy and infrastructure investor, would “crystallise value” in the upstream business, said Repsol, which plans to retain operational control and consolidate it within the group.

“Our ambition is to lead the energy transition,” said Josu Jon Imaz, chief executive, in a statement on Wednesday.

“This pioneering agreement allows us to maintain the strategic direction of the upstream unit,” he added, while boosting the “transformation of the company and its multi-energy profile to achieve zero net emissions by 2050”.

The company said the transaction laid the foundation for an initial public offering of the business in the US from 2026.

Repsol’s upstream business produces oil and gas in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.