ZAGREB, November 18. 2018 – The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, will arrive in Croatia for a visit on Monday, the Office of the President of Croatia said on Friday, at a time when Croatia has still not decided on a supplier of gas for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to be built on the island of Krk. The Qatari emir is coming to Zagreb for a reciprocal visit, after President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović visited Doha in April 2017.
Qatar has shown interest in building and supplying gas for a floating LNG terminal, a strategic project of Croatia and the EU that should be put into operation in 2021 and reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.
Despite relatively frequent top-level meetings and a visit by Qatari experts to Croatia, the two governments have still not made any concrete deal regarding the LNG terminal project, which has been delayed for years. “If we do not begin building it, energy and other routes will bypass us,” Grabar-Kitarović said during her visit to Doha.
“So far, we have been the reason for this situation. We decided to build the terminal at the same time when Poland did. Their terminal started operating a year ago, while we have still not started building ours,” Grabar-Kitarović said at the time.
The LNG Hrvatska company in early November chose a Norwegian bid for the floating terminal, which is actually a vessel for liquefied gas. The supplier of gas for the future terminal has not been chosen yet.
Qatar has the world’s third biggest gas reserves, and in 2017 the world’s biggest gas field, South Fars, owned by Qatar and Iran, was opened. Energy products account for 90% of Qatar’s exports and for more than 75% of its budget revenue. The emirate has around 2.5 million inhabitants, of whom 310,000 are Qataris.
Apart from Grabar-Kitarović, Sheikh Al Thani will also meet with Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
For more on the LNG terminal, click here.
