Ceuta approves Gasib's LPG warehouse next to the penitentiary center

The Ministry of Environment, Urban Services, and Housing of the Autonomous City of Ceuta has approved the environmental impact report and the project annex for the “Execution project of a category I LPG storage center, located in the Autonomous City of Ceuta,” promoted by GASIB Sociedad Ibérica de Gas Licuado, S.A.U. The decision is formalized through Decree 594, dated August 18, 2026, signed by the minister Mr. Alejandro Ramírez Hurtado, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Ceuta (BOCCE) No. 6,646, dated August 25, 2026, page 3238.

The project provides for the construction of a category I liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder storage center, with a capacity for approximately 18,340 cylinders. The file was initiated by resolution on December 29, 2025 (No. 2025/13748), published in BOCCE No. 6,580 on January 6, 2026, and was processed as a simplified environmental impact assessment as it is classified in Annex II of Law 21/2013 (Group 4, heading m).

The controversy over the safety distance

The core of the debate was the safety distance between the warehouse and the Ceuta Penitentiary Center. Penitentiary Institutions alleged that the center is a building intended for collective use—with approximately 300 inmates and 240 public employees—and that, according to Royal Decree 919/2006 (ITC-ICG 02), the 20-meter distance should be increased by an additional 10 meters, requiring a minimum of 30 meters.

GASIB argued that the external safety distance is measured to the property boundary and that it is only increased by 10 meters when the boundary directly borders a building for collective use, a circumstance which, in its view, does not occur. The company went as far as modifying the layout to approach 30 meters, although it maintained that 20 meters comply with the regulation.

The technical report supports 20 meters

The technical services of the Ministry, in a report dated August 10, 2026, considered the establishment viable and adopted the criterion of a 20-meter external safety distance, without adding the +10 meters. The report concludes that the collective use building area of the penitentiary complex does not directly border the plot, being approximately 45 meters away, and that the operation is “safe for its surroundings and strategically necessary for the City of Ceuta.”

The report also rules out significant impacts on the Natura 2000 protected areas and on species from the State Catalog of Threatened Species. Civil Protection supported the installation, noting that 20 meters are sufficient and that the plant represents a safety improvement compared to the old CEPSA tanks.

Allegations and procedure

During the processing, reports were received from OBIMASA, Environmental Health, Urban Planning, SEIS, and Civil Protection, in addition to the allegations from Prison Institutions (March 6 and April 27, 2026). Following the promoter’s response and a videoconference meeting, the management of the penitentiary center communicated that it would not submit further allegations.

Decree 594 determines that it is not foreseeable that significant negative effects on the environment will be generated and that it is not appropriate to subject the project to an ordinary environmental assessment, formulating the environmental impact report and the project annex.

The approval clears the way for the authorization of a facility that, according to the report itself, is strategic for the supply of bottled gas in Ceuta, but which keeps open the controversy regarding the safety of a high-capacity infrastructure located next to a penitentiary center and inhabited areas.

Source: Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Ceuta (BOCCE), no. 6,646, August 25, 2026, section I, page 3238 (official reference: Decree 594, of August 18, 2026).