June 2 (SeeNews) - Croatia could boost by between 20% and over 100% the capacity of its existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the island of Krk in a move to secure its own natural gas supply and the demand of its neighbors, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
Earlier this spring, Croatia boosted the initial annual capacity of the terminal by 12% to 2.9 billion cubic metres of natural gas, in line with the EU's goal to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.
“The capacity could be additionally increased to 3.5 billion cubic metres, while by installing one part of the facility, the capacity could be lifted to even 6.1 billion cubic metres,” according to a statement posted on the government web citing Plenkovic as saying to reporters in Brussels on Monday.
That increase would be enough to meet the needs of Croatia, whose annual demand is 2.9 billion cubic metres of gas, and Slovenia, Bosnia and Hungary, he added.
Earlier on Monday, Plenkovic said that Croatia is close to making an investment decision to increase the capacity of its LNG terminal without elaborating figures of the potential capacity increase.
The LNG terminal on the island of Krk started operating in January 2021. It delivers gas to the Croatian transmission network, which is connected to fellow EU member states Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, as well as to non-EU members Serbia and Montenegro.