Germany's major energy firm E.ON-Ruhrgas said on Wednesday it was involved in talks about supplying Croatia with gas.
The European Union candidate, which hopes to join the block in 2012 or 2013, consumes around three billion cubic metres of gas per year.
Some 65 percent of it comes from its own resources, while the rest is imported exclusively from Russia and Croatia is trying to diversify its gas supply and lessen its dependency on a single source.
"We can confirm that E.ON-Ruhrgas has offered to cover a substantial part of Croatia's gas import needs, but we cannot comment on details of our discussions," E.ON-Ruhrgas said in a statement.
Local media reported E.ON had talked to staet officials and top energy firms in the countyr. Energy officials in the economy ministry were not available for an immediate comment.
At the moment Croatia imports gas only via a pipeline link with its northwestern EU member Slovenia. Gas pipeline operator Plinacro is working on an interconnection with Hungary, which will diversify supply routes, but not the sources.
The biggest gas trader in Croatia by far is the national energy group INA whose biggest shareholder is Hungary's MOL. The arrival of E.ON is likely to challenge INA's domination of the gas market.
"The gas volumes come from E.ON-Ruhrgas's diversified supply portfolio. The gas can be delivered to Croatia either via Austria and Slovenia or via Hungary. Both transport routes would offer sufficient gas volumes as well as the necessary infrastructure, including storage capacity," the statement said.
Croatia is in an initial stage of preparations for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk.
The original plan envisaged the terminal to become operational in 2014, but the date was moved to 2017 because of a fall in demand on the European gas market.
Together with three foreign firms, E.ON-Ruhrgas is a partner in the Adria LNG consortium formed for building the terminal on Krk, which is aimed at supplying the markets in central and southeastern Europe and Italy.