Croatian gas transmission system operator Plinacro aims to reach Final Investment Decision (FID) for an LNG terminal project in Croatia in late 2013, after the completion of a feasibility study in September 2013.
Plinacro, through Hrvatska LNG (a joint venture with the power utility HEP), aims to develop a 4-6 bcm/year LNG import terminal near Omišalj by 2016. A first phase with a capacity of 1-2 bcm/year could be commissioned in 2016; capacity could be raised to 2-3 bcm/year by 2018. The desired 4-6 bcm/year would be reached in the project’s third phase, depending on a gas market analysis nearer to the end of the decade.
An earlier feasibility study funded by the European Commission is thought to have recommended a 4 bcm/year floating storage regasification unit as the most suitable design for the planned facility at Omišalj on Krk Island in the north of the country.
The alternative Adria LNG project developed by E.ON Ruhrgas, OMV, Total and Geoplin was delayed from 2014 to 2017 due to falling gas demand in Europe.