Enagás, S.A. is a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 energy

Energy industry

The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution...

 company which owns and operates the nation's gas grid. The firm also owns and operates three liquefied natural gas regasification terminals in the country, at Huelva

Huelva

Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cadiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. According to the 2010 census, the city has a population of 149,410 inhabitants. The...

, Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 and Cartagena

Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...

. A fourth, at the port of El Musel

El Musel

Located in Asturias, in the north of Spain, and in the middle point of the Cantabrian Sea coast, the Port of Gijón is often seen as an ideal gateway to Europe, allowing direct access to the western and centre of the Iberian Peninsula....

, is currently being constructed and is scheduled to open in 2011. The chairman of Enagás is Antonio Llardén Carratalá and the firm's headquarters are located in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

.

The company was founded in 1975 by the Spanish Government

Spanish Government

Spain is a constitutional monarchy whose government is defined by the Constitution of Spain. This was approved by a general referendum of the people of Spain in 1978...

 with the aim of creating a nationwide network of gas pipelines. After privatisation in 1994, Gas Natural

Gas Natural

Gas Natural SDG, S.A., trading as Gas Natural Fenosa, is an energy company which operates primarily in Spain but also in such countries as Italy, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Morocco...

 acquired a controlling stake in the company. However since demerging Enagás in 2002, Gas Natural has gradually decreased its stake in the company to 5%, which has been the maximum allowed for any shareholder by the Government after 30 December 2006. The state-owned holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) also holds 5% of Enagás. As of the end of 2007, approximately 70% of the company's shares are on the open market.