The companies Plinacro and Ina are planning to finish the construction of the trunk line before the start of the next winter season, which will make it possible for gas to be transported from the Croatian part of the northern Adriatic directly to the mainland. So far, it has been transported via Italy and Slovenia.
When it comes to gas supplies, Croatia must be independent as much as possible, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said at the ceremony. We must have as many trunk lines for gas transport and not depend on Russia-Ukraine relations, the PM said.
The Pula-Karlovac trunk line is 190 kilometres long and it will be constructed by the Plinacro company.
Ina is in charge of linking the platform Ivana K with the coast, namely with the city of Pula.
Ina and its partner from Italy ENI have so far invested 670 million dollars in the linking of the platform with the mainland.
Ina chief executive Tomislav Dragicevic said that reserves in the northern Adriatic contained approximately 20 billion cubic metres of natural gas.
Ina is also cooperating with another Italian partner, the Edison company, in searching for more natural gas reserves in the northern Adriatic.