January 30 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government approved the allocation of 234 million euro ($267.2 million) of budget funding for the first phase of a project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the island of Krk, it said on Wednesday.
The project's first phase consists of building a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) vessel worth 160 million euro and pipelines and facilities for the storage and reloading of liquefied natural gas worth an additional 60 million euro, the government said in a statement. Land plots for the project will add a further 14 million euro to the expenditures.
Of the total amount of state funding, 50 million euro will be made available in 2019 and another 50 million euro in 2020. A further 32.6 million euro will be provided by the national electricity company HEP and the gas supply network operator Plinacro - the two companies that co-founded the LNG Croatia company, which will manage the future terminal.
"The implementation of the LNG terminal project will enable gradual strengthening of the energy community by diversifying energy sources and transport routes," energy minister Tomislav Coric said, as quoted in the statement.
In December 2017, the EU provided a 101.4 million euro grant for the construction of the LNG terminal on the island of Krk, since it was considered to be a project of mutual interest by the European Commission (EC).
The European Commission said at the time that the LNG terminal will first operate as an offshore floating storage and regasification unit with a yearly capacity of at least 2 billion cubic metres. Its cost is estimated at 383.6 million euro.
($=0.876168 euro)