ZAGREB, March 8, 2019 – Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto met with Croatian Minister of Environment and Energy Tomislav Ćorić in Budapest on Thursday, saying that Hungary’s energy security would improve with a gas supply route from the south, presumably meaning the LNG terminal.
Both sides agreed that energy supply security in Central Europe remains one of the most important regional risks and they confirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation in the energy sector, the Hungarian ministry said in a statement quoted by MTI news agency. The statement said Hungary’s energy security would greatly improve if it were able to get gas from the south.
Mr Szijjarto and his Croatian counterpart “acknowledged the importance of a final decision taken by the Croatian government on the construction of an LNG terminal on the island of Krk as well as the construction of a compressor station that would allow bidirectional operation of the gas interconnector between Hungary and Croatia,” the statement said.
In late January, the Croatian government adopted a decision to finance the first stage of a floating LNG terminal on Krk, which is estimated at 234 million euro.
According to the government’s decision, Croatia would secure 100 million euro from the state budget for the LNG terminal project, 50 million euro in 2019 and another 50 million euro in 2020, and before the payments are made, Croatia’s electricity provider Hrvatska Elektroprivreda will secure loans to the LNG Hrvatska d.o.o. company to cover payments due in 2019.
The remaining funds of 32.6 million euro would be secured by LNG Hrvatska, Hrvatska Elektroprivreda and Plinacro.
The gas pipeline company Plinacro in February announced that the construction of the first compressor station for Croatia gas transportation system (KS1) was going according to plan. The value of that facility is estimated at 210 million kuna and the station could be up and running by the end of the year.
In addition to Plinacro’s 75 bar transport system, the compressor station will enable an additional 500 million cubic metres of gas to be transported annually from Croatia to Hungary. Once the Omišalj-Zlobin pipeline is constructed that will connect the LNG terminal on Krk with Croatia’s gas transportation system, it will be possible to transport 1.6 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
KS 1 is essential in the context of the Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity (CESEC) initiative and a Memorandum of Understanding between Croatia and Hungary was signed in that regard which led to an agreement on the establishment of two-way capacities on the existing interconnector between Croatia and Hungary on the Donji Miholjac – Dravaszerdahely route.
More news on the LNG terminal can be found in the Business section.
