An alliance led by Ernst & Young has offered
the best pricing terms to provide advisory services on the planned project for a
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Croatian Adriatic island of Krk,
local media reported on Monday.
The bidding deadline in the tender called
by LNG Hrvatska - a state firm established for the purpose of building and
operating the infrastructure necessary for receiving, storing and regasifying
LNG,expired on January 16.
The tender for a legal, business and
financial adviser attracted a total of eight bids, news daily Poslovni Dnevnik
reported, quoting unofficial sources. The offers will be examined during the
next 30 days.
Ernst&Young is acting in partnership with its Polish
unit and Zagreb-based law firm Divjak Topic i Bahtijarevic. They have priced
their offer at 10.85 million kuna ($1.6 million/1.4 million euro), Poslovni
said.
An offer of 13 million kuna was filed by a consortium of A.T.
Kearney Savetovanje, its Polish, German and Austrian branches, Zagreb-based
Intel d.o.o. and Raiffeisenbank Austria and US law firm
Hunton&Williams.
A consortium of Hungary's Boston Consulting,
Croatia's BDO Savjetovanje, law firm Hanzekovic i Partneri and Morocco's Boston
Consulting SARL Associe Unique is offering 13.7 million kuna for the
contract.
Croatia's Energetski Institut Hrvoje Pozar, in partnership with
US adviser Galway Energy, has bid 13.76 million kuna.
The highest offer
of 13.81 million kuna was filed by an alliance of PricewaterhouseCoopers units
in Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands.
The remaining three bids comprise
two that are not valid and one whose validity is uncertain, Poslovni
reported.
The investment costs for the terminal, which is expected to
have a regasification capacity of 4.0-6.0 billion cu m annually, are seen at 760
million euro ($881 million).
In early December, LNG Hrvatska,which is
currently in the process of obtaining a location permit for the planned
terminal, started accepting non-binding bids for the pre-allocation of terminal
capacity. The submission deadline is May 1.
The LNG terminal on Krk,
which will be able to receive the largest LNG carriers of up to 265,000 cu m, is
planned to comprise two storage tanks with a capacity of 180,000 cu m
each.
The project for the LNG terminal -alongside offshore and onshore
oil and gas exploration tenders that Croatia has called and its participation in
the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline gas project, is part of efforts to develop the
country into a regional energy hub.