Ministry: Croatia Not Producing Surplus Gas

Articles in the media stating that Croatia is producing more gas than it needs were cited from the wrong document.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – The Croatian Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Ministry on Thursday reacted to articles in the media according to which Croatia is producing more gas than it needs, saying the data had been taken from the wrong document.

The document cites data about the production, import, export and gas usage for the year 2006, not 2008. The data was cited from an annual publication issued by the Economy Ministry which is located at the ministry web site.

The ministry says that the amount of Russian gas imported into Croatia in 2006 covered 40 percent of overall usage, that is, that Croatia imported 1.127 billion cubic metres of gas, which was the amount that was used in that year.

Commercial agreement based on market relations 

That same year, based on a long-term contract between the Croatian oil company Ina and the Italian company ENI, gas was exported as compensation for a part of investments that ENI invested into research and exploitation of gas fields in North Adriatic, in the amount of 895.6 million cubic metres. This contract is a commercial bilateral contract and was based on market relations, as well as the gas imported from the Russian Federation.

The publication “Energy in Croatia in 2006” cites the prices of gas for end users, as well as the prices of the transport of gas in Croatia. The publication does not cite the prices from the bilateral commercial agreements and the ministry says it cannot influence market relations and the gas market.

- The ministry is monitoring the market trends and in accordance with that, keeping in mind domestic production, approves the maximum prices for protected buyers in line with the provisioned tariff rules – the ministry said in a statement.