Refiners across the world are aiming to reduce carbon emissions from their operations and help meet UN-backed goals to limit global warming, and Repsol has expressed support for the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change.

The deal will give Repsol a further 2,350 megawatts (MW) of production capacity, the company said in a statement, advancing its aim to reach 2.5 million gas and electricity consumers in Spain by 2025.

Two combined cycle gas plants, one in northeastern Spain and one in the south, will account for 1,650 MW of this capacity, and the remaining 700 MW will come from three hydro-electric centres in the northwest of the country.

Viesgo's gas and electricity marketing business is included in the deal, but its coal plants are not. Repsol said the acquisitions would increase its own energy efficiency, reducing the cost of running its five main bases in Spain.

The deal was struck with Viesgo's two main shareholders, Macquarie Infrastructure and Wren House Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority.