Minister Panenic: Croatia opts for floating LNG facility

Croatian economy minister Tomislav Panenic said the country is looking to have a floating LNG terminal completed in 2018. 

Panenic told Reuters, that although Croatia opted for the floating LNG option, it has not fully excluded the construction of the land-based terminal.

Currently, Croatia believes the market stability could be ensured by setting up the floating LNG terminal, Panenic said.

Initial capacity of the terminal is said to be around two billion cubic meters of gas per year, lot less than the 6 billion cubic meters of annual capacity planned for the land-based terminal.

The land-based terminal on the Island of Krk would include a tanker jetty, two LNG storage tanks with a total storage capacity of up to 360,000 cbm.

European Investment Bank began its appraisal of the project based on the proposed land-based option, as it could fund up to €339 million of the project’s total cost that is in the region of €678 million.

Additionally, it was reported in March that the United States are willing to help with the construction of the gas transmission system that would integrate the LNG terminal into the existing Croatian network.

Panenic added that Croatian government is working on legal amendments that would simplify and speed up the investment procedure. According to Panenic, new legislation should be set within the next six to 12 months.

LNG World News Staff