June 8 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government adopted on Wednesday a decision to speed up the implementation of the first phase of a project for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) which involves the construction of a floating terminal off the coast of the Adriatic island of Krk.
The government has obliged all stakeholders involved in the project, including state-owned company LNG Hrvatska, to accelerate the preparation and implementation of the first phase which includes the construction of a floating terminal for storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas, it said in a statement following a regular session.
A contract with investors for the construction of the first of four phases should be signed within the next 60 to 90 days, prime minister Tihomir Oreskovic said, as quoted in the statement.
"This is a project of strategic importance for the state, important for diversifying natural gas supplies and increasing their security in Southeast European countries," the government noted.
It stressed that it decided to give priority to the construction of a floating rather than a land-based terminal because it is simpler and faster, without, however, ruling out the second option.
Last month, local media reported that company LNG Hrvatska has selected the European Fund for Energy, Climate Change and Infrastructure (Marguerite), Spain's Enagas and an unnamed consortium that operates a floating terminal in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda for the construction of an LNG terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk.
At the time, news daily Novi List reported that prior to signing a deal with the three companies, LNG Hrvatska will negotiate the possibility of building a second, smaller water-based terminal.
In January, Croatia's government announced it has received seven offers from world-renowned companies or funds from the gas and financial sectors interested in developing the LNG terminal. However, in March deputy prime minister Tomislav Karamarko said that the government is considering going for a floating LNG receiving terminal instead of a land-based facility as previously planned.
Karamarko's statement came shortly after the European Investment Bank issued a statement saying it is considering providing a 339 million euro ($385.7 million) loan to LNG Hrvatska for the implementation of the project.
The terminal will include a tanker jetty to accommodate the LNG carriers, 2 LNG storage tanks with a total storage capacity of up to 360,000 cubic metres LNG, vaporisers and ancillary equipment, the EIB said at the time.
($=0.8795 euro)