LNG Croatia to launch open season, awaiting site permit

State-owned LNG Croatia is likely to hold an open season to pre-allocate capacity at the proposed terminal in November 2014, the companies managing director Mladen Antunovic has told ICIS.

The facility has also been included on the Croatian economy ministry’s list of strategic investment projects, and expects to be granted a site permit before the end of 2014.

The proposed 4-6bcm/year capacity terminal would help to diversify natural gas supply to Croatia and the surrounding region, which is currently heavily dependent on Russian-sourced gas. Interest in the project has come from a number of prospective offtakers in nearby countries including Ukraine, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

The company is preparing to launch a two-phase open season procedure before the end of 2014 to allow shippers to first express interest and then secure binding agreements for capacity at the terminal. The date of the open season has not yet been fixed, but is likely to be launched in November, Antunovic told ICIS.

Antunovic previously told ICIS that the company needs to pre-sell at least 1.7 billion cubic metres/year before a final investment decision on the project could be taken.

In Croatia, projects deemed to be of strategic importance benefit from being able to more quickly obtain necessary permits and documents. LNG Croatia has now submitted a site permit application to the government which it expects to receive before the end of the year.

The proposed land-based terminal would be situated on the Island of Krk and be well placed to scale up import infrastructure to achieve economies of scaled over the long term.

The terminal will also feature two tanks of 180,000 cubic metres (cbm) of LNG capacity, and be able to receive carriers ranging between 75,000-265,000cbm of LNG in size.

The Croatian ministry of economy is seeking EU funding to support the construction of the terminal, as a project included on the European Commission’s list of 248 projects of common interest (PCI).

The commission expects to take a decision on which PCI projects to award funding to from November 2014. Jake Horslen