CROATIA LAUNCHES PLATFORM FOR EXPLOITING GAS FROM THE ADRIATIC

( Editorial: --> 4084 ) RIJEKA, Sept 29 (Hina) - The Rijeka shipyard Viktor Lenac on Tuesday launched a housing module on the first Croatian platform for exploiting gas from the sea bed. The platform has been commissioned by the Croatian oil company INA. The launching of the platform, dubbed Ivana A, marks the beginning of one of INA's most ambitious projects for oil exploration in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. INA's partner on the project is the Italian oil company AGIP. INA general manager Davor Stern and Guglielmo Moscato, president of the Italian ENI group which includes AGIP, told the press that Ivana A could start exploiting gas from October 1999 and that a pipe line to Croatia's northern Adriatic city of Pula could be completed by the year 2001. The total cost of exploiting gas from the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea bed, including search drills and the construction of another four platforms and the pipe line, has been estimated at approximately US$550 million. The exploitation of oil from the Adriatic is especially important for Croatia as it gives it an alternative to its only present source of energy, i.e. gas imports from Russia, Stern stressed. The base of the platform is 48.7m long, 21.6m wide and 21.6m high. Once completed the US$8.2 million platform, including the housing module, will weigh 634 tonnes. Also involved in the platform's construction is the Italian shipyard Rossetti Marino from Ravena, which produced the work module, and Split's special facilities shipyard, which produced the pylons. (Hina) jn mro /mbr 291912 MET sep 98