The fiasco of underwater gas warehouse Castor and the struggle for compensations and millionaire refunds which still led to proceedings in court a decade after it ceased operation. The National Court has dismissed an appeal from the company Escal UGS, former operator of Castor and controlled 66% by the ACS group, and forces it to return to the Spanish gas system 209.7 million euros received between 2014 and 2017.
UGS Scale has been litigating to overturn the resolution of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) of 2019 with which it was required to be reimbursed 195 million euros (without accounting for interest) for the settlements that were delivered to it as a concept compensation for the closure of the project after hundreds of earthquakes were detected on the coast of Castellón.
The almost 210 million that it is now obliged to return to the firm controlled by ACS correspond to the final settlements of 2014, 2016 and 2017 of the gas system. The ruling of the National Court, dated July 5, is still subject to appeal before the Supreme Court.
Soap opera of a decade
The Beaver soap opera comes from very far away. In 2008, the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero approved the construction of an underground gas warehouse off the coast of Castellón. The facility ended up closing early due to its relationship with some 500 earthquakes in the area and the Executive decided that Spanish consumers would be the ones to pay in full for the project fiasco through gas bills and for 30 years.
Mariano Rajoy’s Executive approved a compensation of 1,350.7 million for Escal UGS, amount that would be charged on the gas bill. The debt was first transmitted to Enagás – the manager of the gas system – and the company ended up securitizing it and transferring the collection rights to Santander, Caixabank and Bankia, which for almost two years (between 2016 and 2017) were depositing periodic amounts through the liquidations of the National Markets and Competition Commission.
However the Constitutional Court annulled in December 2017 the compensation of more than 1,350 million approved, considering that a decision like that could not be adopted by decree, as the Executive did, but in any case should be made with a norm of the rank of law.
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Years later, in 2020, the Supreme Court nevertheless recognized the right to Santander, Caixabank and Bankia to be compensated for those 1,350 million that they advanced to cover the damage generated by the project. But the National Court has rejected this year the claim of Santander and Caixabank to also receive more than 100 million in return of financial interest.
It was in 2019 when the CNMC, after paralyzing the collection system through the gas bill, agreed to require Escal and the banks that assumed the rights to the outstanding debt to return a total of 368.4 million euros (without interest). already collected for settlements of regulated activities in the gas sector. Escal UGS was ordered to return 195 million (the amount now endorsed by the National Court); to Santander, 71.9 million; to Caixabank, 48 million; to Bankia, 21.1 million; and Enagás Transporte, 32.4 million.