Portugal to spend €60m on crude storage at home

Portugal will invest €60 million to build additional crude storage capacity and eventually bring back strategic oil reserves currently held in France, Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said on Wednesday. The move would shift part of the country’s energy security infrastructure back onto Portuguese soil.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, the minister said Portugal has more than 130,000 tonnes of crude stored in France and that the new project should take four to five years to complete. She said the reserves were moved abroad after the 2021 closure of the Matosinhos refinery, which reduced Portugal’s fuel storage capacity by about one third.

According to the minister, the volume stored in France totals 132,000 tonnes, less than one tenth of Portugal’s total reserves. She said the crude remains the property of the Portuguese state and can be mobilised at any time by government decision, adding that it is reserved exclusively for Portugal’s use.

Carvalho rejected criticism from the opposition Socialist Party, which had alleged that strategic fuel reserves had been moved out of Portugal. She said the claim was false and argued that Portugal remains fully compliant with its European Union obligations, with liquid fuel reserves covering 92 days, above the 90-day benchmark cited by the minister.

Originally published at Eco.pt