ZAGREB: Croatia plans to sign agreements worth millions of dollars in 2014 for exploration and exploitation of gas and oil in the Adriatic and onshore, Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said on Tuesday.
"The new law on hydrocarbons is in parliamentary procedure. We plan to sign contracts on gas and oil exploration next year and may thus secure several hundred million US dollars in the next few years," he said.
Neighbouring Montenegro is also considering tenders for gas and oil exploration in the southern Adriatic. Vrdoljak said Croatia, which joined the European Union on Monday, would try to coordinate its activities with Montenegro so that the tenders are published around the same time.
According to information from the economy ministry, the Zagreb government will by early 2014 complete the mapping of potential oil and gas fields in the central and southern Adriatic and in the central and northern mainland.
At the moment there are no exploration activities in those areas of the Adriatic Sea. The government said earlier this year it expects to attract interest from major foreign energy firms.
"After the mapping procedure, which would take some six months, we plan to publish the tenders. As bigger investors seek a concession field of at least 2,000 square kilometres, we could have some 15-20 such fields in the Adriatic alone," Vrdoljak said.
Croatia hopes to boost its energy independence in the coming years by attracting investments for new electricity production facilities, as well as for oil and gas exploration. It also wants so diversify the supply routes for gas.
At the moment Croatia imports some 80 percent of its crude products needs, around 30 percent of electricity consumption and around 35 percent of its gas consumption.
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