Croatia said to prioritise the gas interconnection with its neighbouring country Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in order to be able to transport the liquified natural gas (LNG) arriving at the Krk terminal.
During a meeting with the president of the Bosnian Croat party, Dragan Čović, Croatia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Davor Filipović underlined how, during the current multiple energy crises, Croatia has become a regional energy hub.
“The construction of the LNG terminal on the island of Krk turned out to be a strategic project that enabled us to not be afraid of whether there would be enough gas in Croatia,” he pointed out. “And we decided to double its capacity precisely in order to be at the disposal of our neighbours.”
The interconnection mentioned by Minister Filipović is part of the Southern Gas Pipeline project between BiH and Croatia. The main goal of the project is to establish a new supply route for the existing and new natural gas consumers in Bosnia and Herzegovina providing reliable and diversified natural gas supply and increasing the security of supply. Additionally, having in mind the limited capacity and age of the existing supply route to BiH, the main benefit of Southern Gas Interconnection is that in the near future, this route could become the only supply route for the country. The project will enable diversification of the routes as well as sources of supply (access to LNG terminal Krk, natural gas storage in the neighbouring countries, gas sources in the Caspian region, EU Gas Hubs and so on). Together with the planned Northern Gas Interconnection Pipeline, the Southern interconnection forms a part of the Energy Community Gas Ring.
The project is currently in the stage of permitting. In order to facilitate permitting procedures and accelerate its realisation, the Bosnian Government has prepared a Draft Law, which should be adopted soon by the Parliament. A final investment decision should be reached by the end of this year while the commissioning of the project should happen by the end of 2024.
