May 31 (SeeNews) - Croatia is close to making an investment decision to increase the capacity of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the island of Krk, in line with the EU's goal to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
“Croatia in these circumstances (...) has an opportunity to become a real investment hub for central Europe,” Plenkovic told reporters in Brussels on Monday, according to a video recording published on the government's website.
Plenkovic attended a meeting of EU leaders discussing a sixth package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as well as measures to secure EU's energy independence from Russia.
There are many options but expanding the capacity of the existing LNG terminal is seen as the fastest and the most efficient one and it will be the most useful for Croatia and many neighbouring countries, Plenkovic added.
"Just like we built it quickly, we are going to upgrade it in a way to be good for us, Slovenia, Hungary and Bosnia," he said without elaborating how much the capacity of the LNG terminal will be increased.
Earlier this spring, Croatia boosted the capacity of the terminal by 12% to 2.9 billion billion cubic metres.
The LNG terminal on the island of Krk started operating in January 2021. It delivers gas to the Croatian transmission network, which is connected to fellow EU member states Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, as well as to non-EU members Serbia and Montenegro.