Costa Rica's Recope steps up cleaner fuels lobby

Costa Rica’s state-run fuel company Recope will move towards clean energy investments such as biofuels and natural gas.

The operator’s executive president Juan Manuel Quesada pitched the strategy during a hearing before the legislative assembly’s special commission for the energy sector.

Quesada called on the need to update legislation to allow Recope to participate in these alternative fuels, the assembly reported.

The executive highlighted the potential to use the company’s existing infrastructure to import and distribute these fuel options.

For his part, Manuel Rodríguez Acevedo, secretary general of the country’s oil workers union Sitraquepia, backed Recope’s plans but said it is necessary to seek coordination due to “different visions” held by responsible entities in terms of energy and the environment.

BNamericas previously reported that energy policy in Costa Rica could see added impetus on the alternative fuels front under the administration of President Rodrigo Chaves who took office in May.

In June, Quesada ordered the dismantling of Recope’s shuttered refinery.

Expanding into biofuels and natural gas were already included in the company’s 2020-30 strategic plan drafted in 2019, while a roadmap for Recope’s 2022-26 administration is under revision.

Recope data shows that of the 20.4Mb (million barrels) of fuel sold in 2021, gasoline and diesel accounted for 38.8% and 37%, respectively. The balance was LPG which has seen steady annual growth for over a decade compared to gasoline and diesel.