The war in Ukraine has exposed the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, but an oil pipeline designed as a Yugoslav rival to Soviet infrastructure could help Croatia emerge victorious in Europe’s energy crisis, reports the Financial Times, taken by Agerpres.

Authorities in Zagreb are working on a series of plans to double the transport capacity of the Adria pipeline to two million tons per month. That would be good news for other EU member states such as Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have terminals and refineries connected to the Adria pipeline and are trying to reduce their dependence on Russian gas.

At the same time, Croatia wants to increase its liquefied natural gas import capacity from the current 2.9 billion cubic meters per year to 6.1 billion cubic meters per year, and a huge investment program in wind and solar power generation capacity could allow Croatia to become a net energy exporter, analysts say .

“Croatia has a chance to become an energy gateway for Central Europe

“Croatia has a chance to become an energy gateway for several neighboring states in Central Europe in the current geopolitical energy situation and difficulties in importing energy resources from Russia,” says Ihor Dekanić, a professor at the Faculty of Geology at the University of Zagreb.

Croatia began diversifying its energy sources long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, importing increasing amounts of oil from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan while simultaneously cutting oil imports from Russia by almost a quarter of total imports. In addition, the regasification plant at the port of Omisal allowed Croatia to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas, which in 2020 accounted for less than 1% of total energy consumption.

Croatia could now benefit from increased supplies to neighboring countries that are trying to diversify their energy imports by collecting rising fees for transporting oil and liquefied natural gas.

The Adria pipeline, operated by the Croatian company Janaf, can transport about one million tons of oil per month. Planned investments in the doubling of transport capacity will help cover the needs of oil refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.

“Such decisions should be made in accordance with the official energy policy of the EU and the Croatian government. Janaf is ready to act quickly after making a decision,” the Croatian company said.

It may have long been a center for oil and gas imports

Increasing the capacity of the Omisal LNG import terminal to double Croatia’s annual consumption should increase Croatia’s regional role. “This will make Croatia a real regional energy hub,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said last month.

But András Simoni, an energy expert at the Global Energy Center, points out that Croatia could already play a greater role as a center for oil and gas imports if the authorities had not delayed the construction of the liquefied natural gas terminal for decades.

“The Croats arrived very late. The USA will rapidly increase the production of liquefied gas. The EU has also recognized natural gas as a transition fuel. But will there be infrastructure in Europe? No one will wait for Croatia, which could transport much more gas if it were more ambitious,” says András Simoni.

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