CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery

CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery is a refinery in Spain. Its listed capacity is 240,000 BBL per day. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery. It is operated by Cepsa. By capacity it ranks #1 among 9 oil refineries in Spain. It emits about 2,211,146 t CO₂e a year from Climate TRACE, roughly comparable to the annual emissions of 515k passenger cars. Its CO₂ per unit of capacity is 7% above the national median for this sector.

Facility data: Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0), id ct-1753783.

In context: how this facility compares

At 240,000 BBL per day, CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery is well above the median refinery in Spain (186,000 BBL per day). Subsector: oil-and-gas-refining. As refinery, it requires high process heat (typically 200–600°C) for its core industrial operations — heat that must be supplied by boilers, furnaces or direct combustion, and losses through uninsulated vessels and piping represent wasted fuel. Removable modular insulation can cut those losses by 80–96%, surface-cooling equipment to ≤45°C, with payback often under 2 years. Refineries heat, fractionate and chemically transform crude oil into fuels and petrochemical feedstocks through energy-intensive distillation and cracking — extremely demanding on steam generation and heat recovery.

Capacity & CO₂-intensity comparison computed from Climate TRACE industrial facilities data; sector role based on engineering reference.

What 2,211,146 t CO₂e a year looks like

This facility's estimated annual CO₂e (Climate TRACE, modelled) in everyday equivalents from the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculator:

Equivalencies: US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies. Emissions: Climate TRACE.

Capacity vs largest oil refineries in Spain

Listed capacity (BBL per day), Climate TRACE v6 (asset-level capacity & CO₂e, CC BY 4.0).

Operator

Operated by Cepsa. All facilities by this operator →

Local climate

CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery sits in a hot-summer Mediterranean climate zone (Köppen Csa), at 36.2°N in the northern hemisphere.

Köppen zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).

Site climate & environmental severity

The local climate sets how fast unprotected steel, protective coatings and the insulation on hot process equipment degrade at this site. It sits in an aggressive, high-corrosion environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C5 — Very high), with marine salt corrosion the leading environmental stress.

In this site’s local climate, a bare 150 °C surface sheds about 1325 W/m² to ambient — roughly 1.02× the loss at a 20 °C reference; removable insulation recovers about 1259 W/m² of that. Reference-surface calculation at a 150 °C surface from WorldClim climate normals (ASTM C680 / ISO 12241) — an indicative per-climate comparison, not a measurement of this site’s specific equipment. Open method dataset: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20787408 (CC BY 4.0).

Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby sites

The #1 largest of 9 oil refineries in Spain by listed capacity (Climate TRACE).

Nearby industrial sites

• Acerinox Europa Los Barrios steel plant · Steel Plant · 120,273 t CO₂
• Tetouan Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 240,708 t CO₂
• Jerez Cement Plant · Cement Plant · 218,313 t CO₂
• Azucarera De Jerez - Centro De Guadalete · Food & Beverage · 111,933 t CO₂
• Complejo Industrial Mataderos Industriales Soler, S.A. (Prolongo) Y Faccsa · Food & Beverage
• Uvesa, S.A. · Food & Beverage

Location

Coordinates 36.18569, -5.39725. View on OpenStreetMap.

Heat loss & insulation profile

For a refinery, the main modular-insulation targets are crude & vacuum distillation columns, fired heaters, heat exchangers, steam lines, valves & flanges. Typical hot-surface ranges used for screening: 150–550 °C.

Indicative recoverable energy

A first-pass insulation screen suggests about 60,000 MWh/year of recoverable heat-loss reduction and about 12,000 t CO₂e/year of avoided emissions. Screening estimate scaled from installed process-heat projects and surface-temperature reduction data.

See Inzonex Modular Insulation → Run the calculator →

Screening calculation from facility class, capacity and open emissions/energy context. Engineering survey required before procurement.

Safety & the no-regret first step

Start with a thermal survey of valves, flanges, doors and bends. Removable modular insulation keeps maintenance access open while lowering exposed-surface temperature and wasted heat.

EU policy pressure on this sector

Obligation

This facility is inside the EU. For thermal equipment, insulation upgrades can support ETS exposure reduction and energy-efficiency compliance.

Sources: EU ETS, CBAM and national energy-efficiency schemes.

Frequently asked questions