However, due to relatively small quantities, exploitation is not feasible.
Geologist Stanko Kadija, who supervised geological research in the Adriatic and Dinarides for INA-Naftaplin, says that oil and gas deposits have been identified in those areas, but not in quantities that would make it attractive to investors under the current conditions, reports Poslovni.hr on June 4, 2017.
“In the southern Adriatic area, there is perhaps three to four times more gas than in the northern Adriatic, but these are not the quantities that would be worthwhile exploiting under the current conditions. It would simply be too expensive. For example, the Russians have found gas in Montenegro, but only quantities sufficient for the needs of the country. Similarly, we in Croatia could find amounts which would be enough to cover our needs. Still, for a more serious investment, that is not sufficient,” said Kadija.
In the Dinarides 3 concession area, they have found substantial amounts of hydrogen sulfide, which are always linked to the pools where oil is located. In the Dinarides 4 concession area, there was the Brač-1 well with large quantities of hydrogen sulfide. These two wells, after an analysis of the surrounding area, make it likely that oil and gas are present. This claim is supported by the drilling of a shallow water well done by a local greenhouse owner. That has been registered by INA-Naftaplin experts, but after they left the site, the project did not proceed.
Significant deposits are hiding in the Konavle area just south of Dubrovnik. In this area, exploration activities were conducted during the 1970s by Chevron. At the JJ-3 well, according to Kadija, medium heavy oil was found at a depth of about 4,000 meters.
The Konavle region is the most promising for exploring oil and gas in the Dinarides area. He expects that asumption to be confirmed by exploration activities being carried out by the geologists of NIS and Gazprom on the other side of the Snježnica mountain, in the area of Trebinje in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the Dinarides 4 concession area, there is a high probability of gas near Dubrovnik. The same anomalies found in this area have been found near the gas deposits in the northern Adriatic.
The high probability of oil and gas has also been established at several other wells, which during the times of the former Yugoslavia were located in the concession area called Mljet and were drilled by the Italian company AGIP.
In the central Adriatic, INA has found oil in the Kornati area, while gas was discovered along the line of delimitation with Italy.
”The only way for all of these deposits of oil and gas to be profitable, would be if Croatia were to implement the exploration and exploitation activities itself, but the state decided against it in the early 1990s. The authorities reached the conclusion that it was cheaper to buy and import oil and gas than to pump it out. Most of the exploration rigs were then discarded, as well as gas exploration platforms. Current efforts are not focused enough, and they will not yield any results.” concluded Kadija.
