Croatia awards ten exploration licenses off Adriatic coast

Croatia awards ten exploration licenses off Adriatic coast

ZAGREB, Croatia -- The Croatian Government has granted ten licenses for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Adriatic. Bids were received from six companies for 15 exploration areas.

An expert committee -- headed by Minister of the Economy Ivan Vrdoljak -- positively evaluated bids for ten exploration areas and finally awarded ten licenses. In accordance with the decisions, Marathon Oil, OMV, Eni, Medoilgas and INA gained the right to explore and exploit hydrocarbons in the first offshore license round.

Marathon Oil and OMV were granted a license for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in seven exploration blocks. The assigned exploration blocks are North Adriatic 8, Central Adriatic 10, Central Adriatic 11, Central Adriatic 22, Central Adriatic 23, South Adriatic 27 and South Adriatic 28.

Eni and Medoilgas were granted a license for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in one exploration block, Central Adriatic 9. And INA was granted a license for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in two exploration blocks, South Adriatic 25 and South Adriatic 26.

"With today's decisions of the Croatian Government, we can start negotiations on signing the Production Sharing Agreement. Awarded companies were obliged to accept the provisions of the draft Production Sharing Agreement already in their offers, since it was a part of the documentation for tendering and to enclose all the provisions that they want to alter in the negotiations. The final deadline for signing the Agreement is 3 months from the issuance of licenses, namely April 2, 2015," Barbara Dorić, President of the Management Board of the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency, said on Jan. 2.