June 15 (SeeNews) - All of the remaining free capacities of Croatia's future Krk liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the next three gas years have been booked under a 15-year deal with PowerGlobe Qatar LLC, the terminal operator, LNG Croatia said on Monday.
The LNG terminal is under construction on Croatia's Adriatic island of Krk and is expected to have a capacity to transport 2.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas per year starting 2021.
In addition, PowerGlobe Qatar has booked capacities of 0.468 bcm in each of the next 5 gas years until the end of 2024/2025 gas year, capacities of 0.624 bcm in each of the following 5 gas seasons until the end of 2029/2030, and capacities of 0.936 bcm in each of the subsequent five years until the end of 2034/2035, LNG Croatia said in a statement.
The company's gas year starts on 1 October and ends on September 30 the following year.
Following capacity booking by PowerGlobe, the overall booked capacity at the future LNG terminal has reached 1.878 bcm for 2020/2021 gas year (1 January 2021 - 30 September 2021), some 2.540 bcm for each 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, some 2.000 bcm for each of 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, 2.157 bcm for each of 2025/2026 and 2026/2027, and 1.143 bcm for the following three gas years.
Earlier this month, LNG Croatia announced that MFGK Croatia, owned by Hungarian energy company MVM Group, has booked capacities of 6.8 bcm for a seven-year period at the Krk terminal.
In May, local gas supplier MET Croatia Energy Trade, part of Switzerland-headquartered energy company MET Group, booked an overall 1.3 bcm of capacities for a three-year period.
According to earlier media reports, Croatian oil and gas firm INA and state-owned power producer HEP have also already booked portions of the Krk terminal's LNG capacities.
The LNG terminal project on the Krk island comprises the construction and operation of an LNG terminal featuring a floating storage and regasification unit and its connections to the national gas transmission network. The Krk LNG terminal will deliver gas to the Croatian national transmission network connected to EU member states Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, as well as non-EU members Serbia and Montenegro.
In July 2019, the European Commission approved the Croatian government's plans to support the development of the 233.6 million euro ($262.9 million) project with 100 million euro in state aid.
($=0.888407 euro)