Croatian Govt Confirms Krk Island as Best Location for LNG Terminal

"Croatia’s independence in the energy sector is of absolute priority and that includes the electricity, gas and oil segments," Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told a weekly cabinet meeting.

A blueprint of a national energy strategy has been almost completed and the LNG terminal project is part of it, he added.

The government’s confirmation of the location clears the way for the preparations for the project to continue, including talks with the local authorities, design presentations as well as drafting an environmental impact study, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec said at the meeting.      

The government said earlier that the LNG terminal will cost between 700 million euro ($1.0 billion) and one billion euro. The capacity of the terminal, expected to be launched in 2014, will be up to 15 billion cubic metres of gas per year.

The LNG terminal will be built by the LNG Adria consortium which comprises five foreign partners and three Croatian companies. The foreign partners are Austria's oil and gas group OMV, French oil company Total, Transgas, a subsidiary of German utility RWE, Slovenian gas company Geoplin and Germany's E.ON-Ruhrgas. The three Croatian companies are oil and gas company INA, and two state-owned companies -- electricity board HEP and gas transport company Plinacro, and the government wants their combined stake in the consortium to be 25%.

($= 0.6964 euro)