Speaking to reporters, Mesic said he was pleased to see that the investment resulted in increasing gas production.
"We still don't have enough natural gas, but the explorations in the north will move to the Central and Southern Adriatic, and in the foreseeable future Croatia will have sufficient gas supplies," the President said.
Mesic said that Croatia would still have to import gas at critical moments, but noted that the country's energy sector was developing in a good direction.
The Northern Adriatic project is to be completed in mid-November, when a EUR90 million and 200-kilometre-long gas pipeline stretching from Pula to Karlovac will be put into operation, said Mirko Zelic, a member of the Board of Directors of the national oil and gas company INA.
In the first half of 2006, the Northern Adriatic system nearly doubled its production, with gas being pumped by 12 rigs. For the first time in INA's history gas production in the Adriatic exceeds production on the continent, Zelic said.
At the start of the year 2.5 million cubic metres of gas was produced from the sea, while now 4.35 million is produced, Zelic said, adding that Croatia would continue to meet about 60 per cent of its needs for natural gas from its own sources.