Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said after talks with US officials for energy and Southeast Europe in Zagreb on Monday that Croatia's energy projects had an important role in securing a reliable and diversified supply of energy products to the region and the entire Europe.
We have agreed that energy strategies should be regional and contribute to regional energy sustainability, Vrdoljak said after talks with US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos Hochstein and US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Hoyt Yee.
Vrdoljak said the talks revolved around possible cooperation in the region and common Croatian and US interests.
According to the minister, those interests are reflected in well-prepared tenders for oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the Adriatic, to which he said the US had given its contribution in the form of consulting.
Vrdoljak said that after the tenders were published in April, he would attend an energy conference in Houston.
Hochstein commended the cooperation with Vrdoljak and his ministry, describing today's talks as very open and sincere. The talks focused on topics relevant for the energy security of Croatia, the region and Europe, he said.
Hochstein congratulated Vrdoljak and the government on having prepared well tenders for oil and gas exploration in the Adriatic, saying that that project, as well as a project for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, would make Croatia part of the solution to the issue of energy security and energy source diversification in Europe.
As for talks between the Hungarian oil company MOL and the Croatian government on the INA oil company, in which they are the two biggest shareholders, Hochstein said it was not up to the USA to solve that issue and that the Croatian government and MOL could and should work on it together.
The USA is willing to help find a solution that would be good both for Croatia and the region, he added.
Asked if an LNG terminal in Croatia was part of the US energy strategy, Hochstein said that oil and gas production in the United States had increased dramatically and that the USA was slowly turning from an importer to an exporter of natural gas. It is therefore necessary to build throughout the world infrastructure needed to store gas from US and other countries, including in the Mediterranean, he said.
Referring to an article on a US web portal saying that Croatia's Ambassador to the USA, Josko Paro, was leading an initiative of Central European countries which have been lobbying in Washington for reducing dependence on Russian gas, reporters asked Vrdoljak if this meant that a possible new strategic partner in INA from Russia would not be welcome.
The minister said that Croatia was the owner of the local energy infrastructure and storage facilities and that projects being developed by the government were based on making the region less dependent on energy products from Russia.
Irrespective of the talks on INA, the government must find a way to be a supplier of energy products to this part of Europe, said Vrdoljak.
He added that Croatia's infrastructure would be made available for use to the entire region and that the issue of possible Russian partners in INA was not the main topic of today's talks.