Ceuta authorizes Atlas to dismantle the LPG spheres.

The Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Ceuta (BOCCE) number 6,643, of Friday, August 14, 2026, publishes the decree of July 30, 2026, of the councilor for Urban Planning and Transport, Rafael Martínez Peñalver Mateos, by which Atlas, S.A. is granted the building permit for other urban development actions for the inertization and dismantling of the LPG spheres at its factory at Playa Benítez, s/n, Ceuta. The authorization, with a material execution budget (PEM) of €174,046.27, comes after favorable reports from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

The spheres 801, 802 and 803, currently out of service, are located on urban land within the planning area APR_05_01 “Cepsa”, in a situation of relative non-compliance with planning. According to the technical urban planning report 308/2026, the works are authorized precisely because they eliminate the determining causes of that situation, in accordance with the Ceuta General Urban Development Plan approved by Order TMA/840/2023, of July 20, whose consolidated text was published in BOCCE Extraordinary number 2 of January 8, 2024. The license is processed under files 33.196/25 (Urban Planning) and 19.194/23 (Environment).

A license endorsed by Defense and Ecological Transition

The file includes opinions from several public administrations, all favorable or without objection:

Favorable mandatory report from the Commanding General of Ceuta (September 24, 2025), under the final provision three of Law 8/1975, of March 12, on zones and installations of interest for National Defense.
Resolution of October 16, 2025, of the Director General of Infrastructure of the Ministry of Defense, authorizing the works included in technical report 714/25.
Authorization from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, through the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation, for the impact on the police zone of the Cepo ravine, with conditions.
Decree of June 17, 2026, of the councilor for Environment, Urban Services and Housing, Alejandro Ramírez Hurtado, issuing the environmental impact report, published in BOCCE 6,629 of June 26, 2026.
Reports from the Cultural Heritage Section (September 4, 2025), the Coastal Unit (September 12, 2025) and the Industry Service (May 29, 2026), which see no objection.

What will be done and how much it will cost

The work consists of removing the instrumentation and electrical equipment associated with the spheres, isolating the sections of incoming pipelines and removing all the metal structure used for their operation. The basic project, drafted by industrial engineer Alfonso Corz Rodríguez and endorsed by the Official Association of Industrial Engineers of Western Andalusia, was amended on 25 March 2026 (project DMND0029239) and incorporates the waste management study and the health and safety study.

Material execution budget: EUR 174,046.27, with EUR 35,773.27 for health and safety and EUR 9,517.95 for waste management.
Execution period: three months according to the health and safety plan of the technical report; the decree estimates it at 14 days.
Construction management by Alfonso Corz Rodríguez and health and safety coordination by Antonio M.ª Peña Ropero.
The effectiveness of the licence is conditional upon settlement of the ICIO before the Autonomous Agency Tax Services of Ceuta (OAST) and upon notification of the technical management and the construction company.

A plant in a sensitive environment

The factory stands on a unique site: within the military security zone “Loma Larga-Serrallo”, delimited by Order 36/1993 of 14 April of the Ministry of Defence; over the underground section of the Cepo ravine; and in the archaeological protection zone T3. The decree also imposes the signalling and delimitation of the work areas, compliance with the cleaning and noise ordinances and waste management in accordance with Royal Decree 105/2008 and Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils.

The removal of this disused liquefied gas infrastructure eliminates an industrial risk in the residential area of Benítez and clears the land of APR_05_01 “Cepsa” for its future planning. The grant is published in compliance with Article 48 of Law 21/2013 on environmental assessment, and against it an appeal for reconsideration may be lodged within one month and an administrative contentious appeal within two.

Source: Official Gazette of the Autonomous City of Ceuta (BOCCE), No. 6,643, of 14 August 2026, section Other Provisions and Agreements, pp. 3200-3204 (official reference: Decree 582, file 33.196/25).