Prospex Energy (PXOG ), an investment firm focused on European gas and power projects, continues to advance its plant optimisation programme at the El Romeral project in southern Spain.
In recent days, the last items of equipment necessary to automate plant operations at El Romeral arrived, allowing plant automation upgrades to commence on 21 November 2021. The project had previously been subject to delays as a result of computer technology supply chain issues which Prospex said 'have now been addressed.'
Despite some technical issues encountered when installing the new control systems, the run-in and optimisation programme has been completed and the plant upgrades have now been successfully integrated, Prospex noted.
The plant officially recommenced continuous stable electricity generation last week on 26 November 2021. The company noted that the El Romeral power plant can now be operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 'switching between the two operational generators as required.'
Following the installation of the new remote monitoring and control systems, the plant at El Romeral can now be run with reduced manual intervention, thereby also reducing the overhead and the operational expenditure of the project, the AIM-quoted firm explained.
In addition, Prospex noted that reservoir management has also been optimised because a constant flow of gas from a gas well is preferable to shutting in production every week. It said this was previously the case because the plant was not usually operational on a Sunday.
Mark Routh Prospex’s Chief Executive Officer commented: “Whilst it is frustrating that the global semiconductor supply shortages delayed the start of this optimisation programme, I am very pleased to report that the project has now completed safely and on budget.”
He added, “We will of course continue to monitor the performance of the plant and the gas reservoirs very closely and will record the performance statistics of the expected increased power generation capacity, which I expect to share at the next operational update.”
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In October 2021, Prosex Enegy announced that its joint venture company Tarba Energía S.L. (“Tarba”) had contracted well intervention work as well as a programme for system optimisation and automation at its gas to power project at El Romeral in Southern Spain.
If successful, the well workover could increase gas production by up to 15,000 cubic metres per day to 27,000 cubic metres per day and would allow the subsequent start-up of a second generator to double electrical output, the investment firm told shareholders at the time.
In its recent half-year report, the Group said it had made “significant strides” to establish itself as a European-focused energy production and electricity generation company in 1H21.
Since the investment firm’s acquisition of the El Romeral project back in March 2021, the Company has earnt an increasing income throughout the year from electricity generation.
This has resulted in the Company reporting a net profit after taxation of £0.129m during 1H21 from continuing operations, up from a loss of £1.02m in 1H20, and a 13.48% increase in the net book value of investments to £4.1m compared to £3.8m in the prior 2020 period.
Prospex said its outlook going forward was ‘one of consolidation and growth’ and that with a shortage of gas across Europe, markets are experiencing record high gas and electricity prices. As a result, it stated that these prices are unlikely to be sustainable longer term.
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