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Croatia postpons exploration for oil, gas in Adriatic seabed

Xinhua, March 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency (CHA) confirmed on Monday the exploration for oil and gas in Adriatic seabed would be postponed due to the need for consultations with neighboring countries.

The contracts, initially scheduled to be signed in April with five companies which have been awarded licences, were expected to be signed in June, CHA said.

Under the UN Espoo convention (EIA), Croatia should carry out a trans-border consultations with its neighboring countries, including Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia, to form the strategic ecologic feasibility study for starting exploration and exploitation activities in the Adriatic.

Neighboring countries should send their comments and suggestions on the feasibility study within a reasonable time, initially scheduled for late March.

Croatia issued an international tender for exploration and exploitation of gas and oil in the Adriatic seabed in April 2014 and received offers for 15 exploration areas, out of 29, ranging between 1,000 and 1,600 square kilometres each.

Croatia awarded 10 licenses to Consortium of U.S. Marathon Oil, 7 to Austrian OMV and 2 to Croatian-Hungarian INA. Italian ENI and British Medoilgas got one licence respectively in January 2015.

Croatia would collect around 55 percent of all earnings, while investors would collect the remaining 45 percent, according to CHA.

Croatian Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak said that there is a potential of 3 billion barrels of oil in the Adriatic Sea. Some experts supported this assessment, while others warned that it was hard to tell before first exploration and exploitation activities start. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.17 Croatian kuna) Endit