CONFERENCE ON NEW PROSPECTS OF ADRIATIC OIL PIPELINE TO BE HELD IN ZAGREB ON 15/16 JUNE

ZAGREB, June 13 (Hina) - A conference on new prospects of the Adriatic oil pipeline (JANAF), organised and sponsored by the European Union (INOGATE programme) and Croatia's Economy Ministry, will be held in Zagreb on June 15/16. The conference is important for Croatia and the JANAF because they will be able to offer their potential to possible clients, whether they own or trade oil. The construction of a new European oil pipeline, 'CTPL' (Constantza-Trieste pipeline), could make the Croatian port and terminal Omisalj one of the most important oil markets on the Mediterranean. The port of Omisalj has many advantages - the depth of the sea enables the largest tankers to enter the port, the port is protected from the elements, and transport and port service costs are lower than in other ports. The need to construct this oil pipeline is connected with the high- quality oil from the Caspian Sea, which is currently delivered by tankers from the Black Sea port of Novorossisk. This port cannot receive large tankers and jams occur when oil ships must pass through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. These difficulties have led to a proposal that oil be transported by ships from Novorossisk to the Romanian port of Constantza, from where oil would be transported through a pipeline via Hungary to Omisalj. The pipeline would enter Croatia at Virje in the northern region of Podravina. One leg of the pipeline would run from Omisalj to Trieste, from where oil would be further carried via the Trans-Alps oil pipeline to central and west European countries. This would integrate the whole JANAF pipeline into the central European oil pipeline network. (hina) mm rml