February 28 (SeeNews) - Hungary remains interested in acquiring a minority stake in Croatia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project, now under construction on the Adriatic island of Krk, Hungarian media reported on Friday.
Hungary wants to reach an agreement with Croatia for diversification of its natural gas supplies and sticks to its proposal for linking the gas transmission systems of the two countries, planning to negotiate deliveries via the future LNG terminal, news website Origo quoted Hungary's foreign and trade minister Peter Szijjarto as saying on Friday.
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He was speaking after a meeting with Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic Radman held in Budapest.
In December, Szijjarto said that Hungary planned to start negotiations for buying a stake in Croatia's LNG terminal project in January. Back then, he also recalled Budapest's proposal for an integration of the Hungarian and Croatian energy markets in order to achieve a lower price for natural gas supplies.
In 2019, Hungary revealed its interest in acquiring a 25% stake in the capital of state-owned LNG Croatia, the developer of the LNG terminal project on the Krk island. The project comprises the construction and operation of a LNG terminal featuring a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and its connections to the national gas transmission network.
The Krk LNG terminal will deliver gas to the Croatian national transmission network connected to fellow EU member states Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, as well as non-EU Serbia and Montenegro. The terminal will have a capacity to transport 2.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year as from 2021.
In July, the European Commission approved Croatia's plans to support the development of the 233.6 million euro ($256.7 million) project with 100 million euro in state aid.
In October 2018, Szijjarto said that Hungary was interested in the import of 1.7 bcm of natural gas per year via the LNG terminal on Krk island.
($=0.909932 euro)