Croatian Paper Warns New Gas Pipelines Pointless Without Distribution Network
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
Text of report by Croatian newspaper Vjesnik website on 10 May
[Commentary by Zeljko Buksa: "Highways Are Next"]
After almost all of Croatia has been covered by a network of modern highways, gas pipelines, that are also an important infrastructure and a prerequisite to development, are headed in the same direction. After Plinacro [Croatian gas transport company], having invested 1.7bn kuna, built 440 kilometres of main gas pipelines in the first five-year development cycle, the most important of which is the one from Pula to Karlovac, the second stage of the major project for the gasification of Croatia is already in full swing. In that stage, 443bn euros will be invested by 2011 in the construction of 996 kilometres of main gas pipelines and in order to bring that increasingly popular and environmentally friendly source of energy to almost all parts of Croatia.
However, gas pipelines alone will not be enough nor will they be feasible if they do not bring sufficient quantities of gas and if, as experts put it, there are not enough consumers "on the other end of the pipe." And this is exactly what could happen if new quantities of imported gas and supply routes are not ensured on time, or if the local distribution networks to supply gas from main gas pipelines to consumers are not built. Consequently, in order to meet the rapid increase of gas production, INA [Croatian oil and gas company], as the only supplier of gas, is trying to secure additional quantities of that energy source by major investments in prospecting and production in both Croatia and abroad, as well as by conducting talks on increasing gas deliveries in the forthcoming years. Moreover, additional major quantities of gas are expected to be supplied through the LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminal that will also constitute a new supply route.
On the other hand, Plinacro is also planning to invest hundreds of millions euros in the construction of new surface supply routes via Hungary, Serbia, and the Adriatic-Ionic gas pipeline, that will allow them to get connected to major international gas pipelines whose construction is planned in southeastern Europe. Furthermore, the Adriatic-Ionic gas pipeline will further promote its feasibility, as the continuation of the pipeline to southern Dalmatia because, in addition to supplying gas to that part of Croatia where difficult consumption can hardly be expected, it will have a transit role for the neighbouring countries (Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Hercegovina). However, it is important that the major investments of Ina and Plinacro be accompanied without delay by concessions for the construction of distribution networks granted the units of the local self-government because, if they are not, expensive gas pipelines could end up just sitting there as "dead capital" for years, as already happened in Karlovac.
Originally published by Vjesnik website, Zagreb, in Croatian 10 May 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: BBC Monitoring European
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