Repsol, the largest oil company in Spain, and Telefónica, the largest telecommunications group in the country, have sealed a historic agreement for the deployment of next-generation mobile networks (5G) in the energy company’s petrochemical facilities in the Spanish market.
According to sources close to the agreement, Repsol has awarded Telefónica the development of a 5G network in its industrial centers in Cartagena (Murcia), La Coruña (Galicia), Puertollano (Castilla-La Mancha) and Tarragona (Catalonia). The network will provide connectivity for the remote operation of these oil company facilities.
The project is planned to be implemented in 2026. Sources from the energy and telecommunications sectors indicate that this is the largest 5G project in Spain in the industrial field so far. There are industrial 5G projects in various plants, but none with this ambition.
Specifically, Telefónica will be in charge of deploying and operating what is technically called a private 4G/5G network, which will be supported by the operator’s public mobile network. It will provide outdoor coverage to each of the four Repsol centers, in which a network with high transmission capacity will be deployed (using the frequencies of 700 MHz and 2,100 GHz, for 5G; and 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz, for 4G).
The energy company has been a pioneer in testing private networks and innovative telecommunications solutions to improve its processes and facilitate the current deployment of a 5G network with which to continue advancing in the transformation of its industrial centers.
This award will also allow the establishment of what are called autonomous plants in the petrochemical industry. In fact, the communications deployment plan awarded to Telefónica has been baptized as the Autonomous Plant project. It is part of Repsol’s Industrial Digital Program.
An autonomous plant is one that, with the supervision of oil company personnel, allows actions to be executed based on production scheduling instructions and the state of assets, with the aim of maximizing profitability and efficiency. The award period is three years, extendable to five. The new network will allow Repsol to advance in the automation of these industrial centers through cameras, sensors and even drones.
Telefónica began to deploy 5G nationwide with the launch of more than 60 pilot projects in January 2018. In September 2020, Telefónica launched commercial 5G, which is currently within reach of 94% of the population.
