Portugal's Galp and Spain's Moeve End Refining and Fuel Retail Merger Talks

Portugal's Galp and Spain's Moeve have ended negotiations to combine their refining, chemicals and fuel retail operations, abandoning a proposal that could have created one of Europe's larger integrated downstream energy businesses.

Galp confirmed on Monday, 26 October, that the companies had not reached an agreement after months of talks. The company said the outcome would not affect its current operations and maintained that its downstream businesses had a solid standalone position. Moeve likewise indicated that it would continue pursuing its own transformation strategy.

The two groups began formal discussions in January under a non-binding framework. Their proposal envisaged two separate platforms: an industrial business bringing together refinery and related chemical operations, and a retail business combining service stations and mobility services across the Iberian Peninsula.

The proposed industrial platform would have linked Galp's Sines refinery in Portugal with Moeve's Huelva and Algeciras facilities in Spain. Together, the three sites had an estimated crude processing capacity of about 700,000 barrels a day. A separate retail venture would have operated roughly 3,500 service stations, mainly in Portugal and Spain.

The companies did not announce a completed transaction or binding merger. They also did not give a detailed joint account of why the negotiations failed, beyond their inability to reach acceptable commercial terms. As a result, their existing businesses remain separately controlled, and any future cooperation would require new arrangements.

The breakdown leaves both companies to pursue investment and energy-transition projects independently, including Galp's industrial activities at Sines and Moeve's lower-carbon business plans. It also removes, for now, the prospect of the scale benefits that the proposed joint platforms were intended to provide.