Croatia is preparing its first tender for onshore oil and gas exploration and
production which will target the Podravina and Posavina locations, in the basins
of the Drava and Sava rivers, the country's economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak said
on Tuesday.
Afterwards, the government plans to issue a public call for
onshore oil and gas exploration and production in the Dinaric Alps region,
Vrdoljak said in a statement.
State-run broadcaster HRT quoted Vrdoljak
as saying that the tender for the Podravina and Posavina regions will most
probably be launched in the second half of July.
This would only be the
first round of tendering as later a public call for hydrocarbons exploration and
production in central and northern Croatia will follow, Vrdoljak said, adding
that the turn of the Dinaric Alps will come in 2015.
In April, Croatia
invited bids in a first licensing round for the exploration and production of
hydrocarbons in the Adriatic Sea. The deadline for submission of bids expires on
November 3.
According to the latest data available on the website of the
country's economy ministry, Croatia consumes around 3.0 billion cubic meters of
gas annually with domestic production covering over 60% of demand.