Croatian LNG terminal project awaiting input from Brussels.
Consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has launched a sort of road-show for companies which manage pension funds in order to present them the Croatian LNG terminal project. There is speculation that some pension funds are interested in the project and that they could decide to participate in it. Of course, the funds will not enter the project without clear expectations of stable revenues, so their final decision will depend on the support of the European Commission, reports Poslovni.hr on October 26, 2015.
“If the project is not agreed at the top of European politics, we will not participate”, commented one of the leading figures from the world of pension funds who does not want to invest the savings of Croatian citizens in a project that will not bring long-term yields. An LNG terminal is actually a storage facility for liquefied gas and its success depends on two factors: favourable long-term supply contracts for gas on the one hand, and long-term clients who would be ready to buy it. LNG Hrvatska representatives say that money from EU funds covered a half of the costs of preparatory documents, which demonstrates that the LNG terminal in Omišalj could receive European support.
“International tender is currently under way, and all investors are invited to take part, including pension funds from Croatia. The final results will be known on December 31, and I believe that we will have great interest of investors”, Mladen Antunović, general manager of LNG Hrvatska, said.
It is a project worth several billion kuna, or more than 800 million euros, with a capacity of six billion cubic metres of gas. The importance of the project for Croatian economy is demonstrated by the fact that the involvement of Plinacro and its pipelines could annually bring in more than a billion kuna. On the other hand, the issue of ownership of the land on which the LNG terminal is to be built still has to be settled, because it is the property of Hypo Bank. However, investors are not concerned about the unresolved property issue because they say that its purchase is a minor item in the total investment.
