The floating terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Krk island in the northern Adriatic will start operating next year, Croatian Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy Tomislav Coric said on Tuesday.
The minister confirmed that almost the entire capacity of the LNG Terminal has been booked for the next three years and that the gas prices in Croatia may fall.
He noted that the revenues of the company that is running the terminal, LNG Croatia, are expected to surpass 100 million euro (113 million U.S. dollars) in the next five years.
"By completing this project that will start operating on Jan. 1, 2021, Croatia is tracing itself on the energy map of Europe. We will achieve the security of gas supply for Croatia, and we will contribute to the security of gas supply for the European Union. We will avoid any additional fees for our citizens," Coric said.
The value of the floating terminal is around 230 million euros, state news agency Hina reported. The European Commission is financing 104.1 million euros as the terminal was included on the Commission's list of projects of common interest.
The companies that have booked capacities of the terminal include MET Croatia Energy Trade, national power company HEP, Croatian multinational oil company INA, member of the Hungarian MVM group MFGK Croatia, and Powerglobe Qatar LLC.
The capacity of the new terminal is 2.6 billion cubic meters per year.
Editor:Cherie
