Zagreb--The Croatian government on Wednesday granted licenses for oil and gas exploration in east of the Balkan country which is aspiring to become a key energy supplier in the region.
National oil and gas group INA, which is jointly owned with Hungary's oil giant MOL, Nigeria's Oando Pic and Vermilion Zagreb Exploration, a local unit of Canada's Vermilion Energy, were granted licenses for six exploratory areas, the government said on its website.
Ina and Oando Pic got one area each, and Vermillion Zagreb Exploration the remaining four.
The exploratory areas in the Drava and Sava rivers basins and eastern Croatia are between 2,100 to 2,600 square kilometres (811 to 1,005 square miles). They are to be explored by conventional drilling.
The region has been the main one for oil and gas production in Croatia since the 1970s but it has failed to live up to its potential.
In early July, Croatia is expected to sign contracts on granting the rights to explore for oil and gas in the Adriatic with three groups -- the consortium of Houston-based Marathon Oil and Austria's OMV, INA and Italy's ENI and MEDOILGAS.
The project has raised concerns of environmental groups in the tourism-dependant country, but the government hopes it will bring investments to revive the ailing economy.
EU member Croatia has not experienced any economic growth since 2008. The government expects a meagre 0.4 percent growth this year.
Croatia produces about 60 percent of its own natural gas, while the remaining 40 percent comes from Russia.
The former Yugoslav republic imports 80 percent of its annual oil needs, while average annual domestic oil production is 500,000 tons.
AFP
