Croatia's LNG Hrvatska said it has extended
until May 31 the deadline for non-binding bids to book capacity at the planned
liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk.
"Due
to requests from gas suppliers and regional utility companies for extension of
non-binding open season procedure stage, LNG Hrvatska decided to prolong the due
date for thirty days," the company said in a statement posted on its
website.
In December, LNG Hrvatska - established for the purpose of
building and operating the infrastructure necessary for receiving, storing and
regasifying LNG, told SeeNews that the capacity of the terminal will be 4.0-6.0
billion cu m annually and that it is expecting the biggest interest to come from
regional companies engaged in the production of LNG and in gas trade.
In
the first phase of the two-stage open season procedure, potential customers are
invited to submitnon-binding bids for storage capacity. Based on the received
offers and total available capacity, LNG Hrvatska will come up with proposals
for the capacity allocation. If satisfied with the capacity allocated, potential
customers can proceed to the second step of the open season procedure and submit
a binding offer.
After the binding offer is accepted, the respective
customer will be able to sign a long term contract with LNG Hrvatska in order to
finally book the previously allocated capacity.
LNG Hrvatska,which is
currently in the process of obtaining a location permit for the planned
terminal, said that it expects the project would benefit from the latest
developments regarding the South Stream gas pipeline as they shift focus in the
region on gas supplies via Krk.
Besides the capacity booking procedure,
LNG Hrvatska intends to initiate a call for equity in the first half of 2015.
The final investment decision on the project is expected in the middle of 2016
with the commissioning of the LNG terminal seen in the middle of
2019.
The LNG terminal, 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.