The majority of Spaniards oppose the prohibition to carry out new prospecting for oil or gas in Spain included in the draft Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition approved by the Government and sent to the Cortes. According to a survey carried out by Sigma Dos for the Aciep business association, which brings together the main companies in the hydrocarbon exploration sector, 57% believe that this activity should not be prohibited due to the country's enormous dependence on foreign energy and the high cost of the invoice that this supposes in the trade balance.

This figure is divided in turn between those who also advocate for the search for local crude oil and gas (27%) and those who defend that neither the sector be promoted nor its activity slowed down, that is, that it remains in the hands of the market laws and the potential interest that companies operating in this sector may have.

The Sigma Dos survey coincides with the approval by the Government of the Law that aims to promote the energy transition in Spain. In the text, sent to Congress for debate and voting by the different parliamentary groups, article 8 explicitly includes the prohibition to grant "new exploration authorizations, hydrocarbon research permits or exploitation concessions for them" . Only the current gas and crude farms in the country and the processing of permits that are already underway will be able to continue operating.

The text also includes a specific prohibition on what is known as 'fracking', the technique that through hydraulic fracturing has managed to revolutionize the world energy order and make the United States one of the great international producers. In this case, the legislation is tougher since it actually suspends the life of all the authorizations that have been requested to use this technique in Spain. "Likewise, as of the entry into force of this law, no new authorizations will be granted to carry out any activity for the exploitation of hydrocarbons in which the use of high volume hydraulic fracturing is foreseen."

The environment is the great concern of those who reject that Spain should seek its own gas and oil. Eight out of ten of those who are against the activity use this reason, while 8% consider that bringing it from outside is cheaper and 7% believe that it is incompatible with other economic activities. Proponents of this energy believe that it is necessary to seek to reduce the country's energy dependence, improve its trade balance and mitigate the risk of lack of supply. Currently, 99.5% of the hydrocarbons consumed in the country come from abroad.

Spending on importing crude oil and gas in 2019 amounted to 42,500 million euros , according to data from the Secretary of State for Commerce. The figure represented a reduction of 5% compared to the previous year due to the lower cost of raw materials in world markets. Its commercial cost was cushioned by the export of fuels and other refined products in the Spanish factories, which amounted to 19,000 million euros , although that did not prevent energy from remaining one more year the ballast in the country's trade balance with a deficit 23,000 million, equivalent to two points of GDP.

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