In 1927, Spain’s energy landscape was reshaped by the creation of CAMPSA (Compañía Arrendataria del Monopolio de Petróleos). Spearheaded by the government of Miguel Primo de Rivera and his Minister of Finance, José Calvo Sotelo, CAMPSA was established as a state-controlled petroleum monopoly. It was founded through a consortium of Spanish banks to manage the country’s oil storage and distribution. This wasn’t a story of garage-based entrepreneurs, but of a strategic national project to control energy resources. For decades, CAMPSA operated as the logistical backbone of Spain’s energy sector. The major turning point came in 1992, driven by European Union directives to liberalize the market. The monopoly was dissolved, and CAMPSA’s core logistical assets were spun off into a new entity: Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos, or CLH. This new company was no longer a state monopoly but a key player in a competitive market, focusing purely on hydrocarbon transportation and storage. Under the CLH brand, the company began a significant international expansion in 2012, extending its reach into Europe and the Americas. A pivotal moment was the 2020 acquisition of 15 new terminals from Inter Terminals, solidifying its presence in Northern Europe. To reflect its growing international footprint and diversification beyond oil into chemicals, biofuels, and new energies like hydrogen, the company rebranded in 2021 to Exolum. Today, Exolum operates as a global leader in liquid logistics, a journey from a state-run monopoly to a diversified, forward-looking energy infrastructure company.
