Prospex Energy has completed the environmental consultation process for its proposed natural gas development in southern Spain without any objections, marking a key regulatory milestone for the company’s El Romeral project.
The company announced that the consultation phase for its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) concluded with no adverse comments or responses from any of the 29 statutory consultees.
According to the release, these consultees included associations, local stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, regulators, residents, and town councils.
Prospex submitted the EIA documentation to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in Madrid for five new gas wells within the El Romeral concessions.
The consultation process, which is a formal requirement for project approval, was completed in line with Spanish environmental legislation.
MITECO will now review the submitted assessment before issuing a recommendation for ministerial approval of the drilling permits.
The ministry has indicated that this stage of the process is expected to take between 90 and 180 days.
Prospex owns 100 per cent of Tarba Energía, the operator of the El Romeral site, which comprises three production concessions — El Romeral 1, 2 and 3.
The five proposed wells are designed to target low-risk geological structures within these concessions, focusing on best-estimate contingent and prospective resources of 18.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas.
The broader El Romeral resource base exceeds 90 bcf.
Prospex Chief Executive Officer Mark Routh said: “We are delighted to be making good progress in the complex permitting process, which has now moved to the final stage.
“We remain highly confident in the overall value of the El Romeral asset and its future development potential and are pleased that the permitting process to drill five new natural gas wells has taken a significant step forward.
“The process to apply for permission to drill natural gas wells in Spain is lengthy and complex, and as we have experienced, comes with unexpected delays in recommended timelines.
“It is a testament to the professionalism and quality of our team and advisers that the EIA documentation submitted has resulted in no objections or concerns.”
During MITECO’s regulatory review, Tarba will continue preparatory work for drilling activities. This includes detailed well design, sourcing essential long-lead materials, and assessing potential contractors and equipment suppliers.
The company has also begun a project to record background seismicity across the concessions to establish baseline environmental conditions and demonstrate that future drilling operations will not induce seismic activity.
Prospex originally filed the drilling application with MITECO in May 2024, providing a detailed scientific analysis of potential environmental impacts.
The statutory EIA consultation notice was published in the State Official Bulletin in February 2025, with the formal consultation period closing on 4 April 2025.
The review included reports from several key agencies, including the Geological Survey of Spain, the Hydrological Public Domain Authority, and the environmental department in Seville.
With the EIA consultation now complete and free of objections, Prospex Energy expects that the El Romeral project will advance to the final phase of the permitting process in early 2026.
