Led by Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee the Company's delegation paid a visit today to the Republic of Croatia.

As part of the visit a meeting was held between Alexander Medvedev and Ivan Vrdoljak, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Croatia.

The parties discussed different aspects of the cooperation in the energy sector. Particular attention was paid to the South Stream project implementation in the Republic. In addition, the meeting addressed the issues of Russian natural gas supplies to Croatia, which were resumed in 2012, as well as the use of gas in power generation.

In the presence of Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak, Alexander Medvedev and Mladen Antunovic, Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned LNG Croatia signed a Roadmap to implement projects for natural gas use as a motor fuel in the Republic of Croatia.

The document defines the priority action plan for Gazprom to cooperate with Croatian transportation companies and logistic operators as part of the pilot projects for municipal bus fleets gasification in Croatia.

In addition, an agreement was reached on rendering assistance in obtaining the necessary licenses, permits and admittances for NGV projects as well as promoting the legislative initiatives for creating favorable conditions to develop cooperation.

Background

Natural gas supplies to Croatia started in 1978.

Based on the Intergovernmental Agreement signed in 1992, 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas was annually supplied to Croatia until late 2010.

With a view to diversify the natural gas export routes Gazprom is implementing the project for the construction of a gas pipeline running under the Black Sea to the countries of Southern and Central Europe – the South Stream project.

In March 2010 Russia and Croatia signed the Intergovernmental Agreement stipulating Croatia to join the South Stream project. In November 2011 a national Feasibility Study was signed.

In order to implement the South Stream project in Croatia, Gazprom and the authorized Croatian company Plinacro are in the process of setting up a joint project company and developing design documents for a gas pipeline branch.

LNG Croatia is a 100 per cent state-owned company focused on the development of the NGV market in Croatia.