Amidst the Ukraine-Russia conflict that brought uncertainty to Europe’s gas supplies, the European Commission has reportedly decided to back the Croatian LNG project on the island of Krk.
Economy Minister of Croatia, Ivan Vrdoljak said in an interview with Hina that he expects the government to include the LNG project on the list of its strategic investment projects, and in the search to diversify Europe’s LNG supply and lessen its dependence on Russian gas, European Commission, under pressure from the US government, gave a promise to support the development of the project.
The Minister further said: “We have the Commission’s support and we have managed to position this project as a key project for the regional gas supply security.”
He also added that the process of acquiring permits for the project are underway and that the government would seek from the European Commission and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to partially finance the necessary documentation – a detailed study of technical and technological solutions, a geological study, the main project and other documentation.
The construction of the LNG terminal would cost about EUR 630 million and it is planned to be finished by 2019.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, July 22, 2014; Image: mingo.hr