The Minister of Environment and Energy, Tomislav Ćorić, stated at last week’s conference ‘Croatian Energy Market in the European Energy Union’ that without new investments in research and development, Croatia could be left without oil and gas production by 2035. He also emphasized that an optimal energy mix must be determined and that priority should be given to developing energy potentials where Croatia has the most, with the aim of developing domestic production. He added that strategies need to be aligned with the EU energy development plan. The current situation is not great, oil is a problem, and imports reach up to 80 percent.
>>> Ćorić: Croatia could be left without oil and gas if there are no new investments
Energy consultant Jasminko Umičević agrees with Ćorić’s assertion that without investment, Croatia could be left without oil and gas production.
– Last year, Croatia fell below 50 percent of its domestic gas production, which was achieved without investment. MOL, when it entered INA in 2003, took on the obligation to increase oil and gas production from 50,000 barrels per day to 70,000 barrels per day and to achieve 100 percent replenishment of reserves through investment in exploration and production, which means that today Croatia would have double the reserves it had in 2003 – said Umičević, emphasizing that it is a fact that INA currently produces less than 35,000 barrels per day, which is half of what it produced in 2003.
Therefore, Umičević believes that the situation is poor and that the main culprit is MOL, which has not invested. He added that something has started in this regard, as another company, Vermilion, has begun operations alongside INA, which is a good sign, but this also needs to be accelerated because everything is moving too slowly and by 2035 we will be completely dependent on imports.
