The EU will invest €101.4 million in the construction of the LNG terminal in the island of Krk, Croatia. A grant agreement under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) was signed at the Energy Council on 18 December, in the presence of Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete and Energy Ministers of Croatia and Hungary.
As part of its Energy Union strategy, made up to ensure a secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy in Europe, the EU is committed to building missing energy infrastructure links and ensuring that every EU country has access to at least three different sources of gas.
Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said: “Today’s signature shows that the Energy Union is a reality on the ground: we are building missing energy links, uniting markets, and improving security of supply. This investment will not only allow for the supply of natural gas to Croatia and Hungary: it will also increase the diversification of energy sources of Central and South Eastern Europe, and give an economic lift to the region.”
On the same context, the construction of the LNG terminal, which will first operate as an offshore floating storage and regasification unit with a yearly capacity of at least 2 billion cubic metres, will increase the security of gas supply in Central and South Eastern Europe.
In addition, it is expected to improve the competitiveness in the region and, as a priority project under the Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity (CESEC) initiative, provide for a more effective integration of key infrastructure projects.
The implementation is expected in February 2018. The EU grant for the LNG terminal contributes 27.92% to the overall estimated costs of €383.6 million.
Until 2020, a total of €5.35 billion is being made available to trans-European energy infrastructure projects under the Connecting Europe Facility, a key EU funding instrument to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at European level.
