A fight has broken out between the government and Escal about Castor's underground natural gas reserves. ACS, which owns two-thirds of Escal, has decided to go to court to figure out who will pay for it.
The construction firm will claim to be the victim considering that reports on the quality of the mines could tarry for years. Further, ACS will claim 1.272 billion euros that ex-Minister Miguel Sebastián promised as insurance in case the deal fell through. This was a questionable agreements and it could end up being very expensive for Spain. The Ministry of Industry cannot afford to take on a bad project, unjustified overspending and a 500-million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) that it will have to pay back.
