Krk FSRU

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Krk FSRU (also known as Hrvatska LNG and LNG Croatia) is an operating floating LNG terminal in Croatia. A Phase 2 expansion of the project is proposed.

Location

The map below shows the location of Omišalj, the approximate location of the project, on the island of Krk, in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.

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Project details

• Owner: HEP 85.00%, Plinacro 15.00%
• Parent: HEP 85.00%, Plinacro 15.00%
• Location: Omišalj, Krk Island, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia
• Coordinates: 45.066667, 14.6 (approximate)
• Capacity: 2.9 bcm/y, 2.13 mtpa
  • Originally 2.6 bcm/y, and increased by 0.3 bcm/y in 2022
• Cost: €233.6 million (US$256.2 million)
• Financing:
  • Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant (2014) of €4,758,382 (US$5,788,847)
  • CEF grant (2015) of €514,994 (US$626,528)
  • CEF grant (2016) of €747,000 (US$908,849)
  • CEF grant (2016) of €101,400,000 (US$111.2 million)
  • Croatian government grant of €100 million (US$109.4 million)
  • Equity investment of €32.2 million (US$35.3 million) from HEP and Plinacro
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• FID status: FID (January 2019)
• Start year: 2021
• Associated infrastructure: Omišalj-Zlobin-Bosiljevo-Sisak-Kozarac-Slobodnica LNG main evacuation pipeline

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day; bcm/y = billion cubic meters/year

Background

Krk FSRU is a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) regasification terminal in Croatia. The project was originally planned to be an onshore regasification facility, but was switched to a FLNG proposal in 2015, being declared by the Croatian government as a Strategic Investment Project. The project is a part of the European Union's Projects of Common Interest (PCI), making it eligible for public funding. The project includes construction of an 18 km pipeline, part of the Omišalj-Zlobin-Bosiljevo-Sisak-Kozarac-Slobodnica LNG main evacuation pipeline, which will act as an extension of the existing Hungary-Croatia interconnection (Városföld – Slobodnica), providing 2.6 bcm/y from the LNG terminal to the Croatian gas transmission system. The maximum capacity will eventually be 7 billion cubic meters per year.

The project was originally planned to go into service in 2018. The project would cost about US$418 million in total. As of May 2017, the investment decision had been pushed back to Q1 2018.

In August 2017 it was reported that preliminary work had started on the terminal, with commissioning planned for 2019. Initial annual capacity is planned to be 2 billion cubic meters (1.5 mtpa) and may be increased to 5 billion cubic meters (3.7 mtpa).

In November 2018, LNG Croatia selected Golar Power and its proposal to convert an existing LNG carrier to an FSRU at a cost of 159.6 million euros ($180.8 million). This procurement of a smaller than planned FSRU reduced the overall project costs to €233.6 million (US$256.2 million). At a December 2018 auction two Croatian companies, INA and HEP, expressed interest in buying up to 520 million cubic meters of gas per year, representing just a third of the terminal's annual output.

As of September 2019, the project was still on track to start operations in January of 2021, and begin turning profits in 2025. Once online, the terminal would have an annual capacity of 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas, equivalent to the country’s annual usage. The EU contributed 101 million euros ($111 million) to develop the Krk terminal, with the Croatian government matching the amount and national grid HEP d.d. and state-owned gas pipeline operator Plinacro d.d. adding about 15 million euros each. The project is the first of its kind for Croatia, which has the EU's fifth-longest coastline, and is the result of the U.S. lobbying to reduce the country's need for Russian gas.

According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, construction was underway as of December 2019.

As of March 2020, the terminal has received binding offers from just two buyers that have committed to a total of 520 million cubic metres of gas per year (mcm/y), significantly less than the 1.5 bcm/y needed for the terminal to break even.

In June 2020, Croatia's minister for energy and environment Tomislav Coric announced that the terminal will commence operations on January 1, 2021, with full capacity booked for the next few years. LNG Croatia informed that the terminal capacities have been sold out until October 2023, and that up to October 2027 capacity of 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas annually has already been locked in. Confirmed customers include Powerglobe Qatar LLC, Hungary’s state-owned energy group MVM, the Croatian unit of Swiss-based MET Holding, and two Croatian energy firms.

In June 2020, PowerGlobe Qatar booked all free capacities at Croatia's Krk FSRU until 2023.

In September 2020, Hungary signed a six-year agreement with Shell to receive 250 million cubic metres of LNG per year (mcm/year) via the terminal. This means that by the end of 2027, gas arriving from the Krk FSRU will meet 10% of Hungary's gas needs.

FSRU LNG Croatia, converted from Golar Viking LNG carrier at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in China, arrived in Krk in December 2020 and started commercial operations in January 2021, as scheduled. The FSRU facility, which was purchased from and is operated by Golar LNG Limited, has a technical capacity of 1.9 MTPA. The capacity at the terminal has been booked by HEP, MFGK Croatia, MET Croatia Energy Trade and Power Globe Qatar.

Commercial operations began on January 1, 2021.

In March 2022, Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenković announced plans to marginally increase the terminal's capacity from its current 2.6 bcm/y to 2.9 bcm/y, and said that Croatia would work with the European Commission to secure additional EU money for the capacity increase. Since it started operating in January 2021, the Krk Terminal has received 25 LNG cargoes, with 17 of them coming from the US.

In April 2022, it was announced that the capacity of the terminal had been raised to 2.9 bcm/y with no additional investment required.

Financing

In February 2017, the project was awarded a grant for the construction of the terminal of €101,400,000 (US$111.2 million) under the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). This followed three previous grants for studies from the CEF of €4,758,382 (US$5,788,847), €514,994 (US$626,528), and €747,000 (US$908,849). The CEF has supported the project with grants totalling €107,420,376 (US$118,524,224).

The Croatian government provided a further grant of €100 million (US$109.4 million), and HEP and Plinacro have made an equity investment of €32.2 million (US$35.3 million). The government funding followed approval in August 2019 from the European Commission for state aid for the construction and operation of the terminal. In addition, the terminal company was also granted a 'security of supply fee' which is financed by levies charged by the Croatian gas transmission system operator (TSO) to Croatian gas users to cover any shortfall in revenues from the operation of the terminal.

Phase 1 Expansion Project

• Owner: Golar Power
• Parent: LNG Croatia LLC
• Location: Omišalj, Krk Island, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia
• Coordinates: 45.066667, 14.6 (approximate)
• Capacity: 3.2 bcm/y
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Cost: €25 million, with an additional €155 million invested in the associated pipeline
  • Formerly €479 million (US$546 million)
• Financing: €25 million from the European Commission
• FID status: FID (2022)
• Start year: 2025
  • Formerly 2024-2025
• Associated infrastructure: Omišalj-Zlobin-Bosiljevo-Sisak-Kozarac-Slobodnica LNG main evacuation pipeline

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day; bcm/y = billion cubic meters/year

Phase 1 Expansion background

According to industry group ENTSOG, in the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) 2020, there is an expansion planned of 4.4 bcm/year (3.2 mtpa). ENTSOG referred to this expansion as Phase 1 in October 2022, despite an earlier April 2022 expansion of 0.3 bcm/y.

The expansion of the terminal was not included in the 5th PCI list published by the European Commission in November 2021.

The April 2022 edition of the LNG database published by Gas Infrastructure Europe continued to list an expansion of undefined capacity at the Krk terminal, with a projected start-up date of 2029. In June 2022, prime minister Andrej Plenković confirmed that the Croatian government was planning a 3.2 bcm/y expansion at the Krk terminal, bringing the terminal's total capacity to 6.1 bcm/y and allowing it to supply natural gas to Slovenia, Bosnia and Hungary.

In August 2022, the government of Croatia announced that it had decided to proceed with the expansion project.

In September 2022, Hrvoje Krhen, Managing Director of LNG Croatia, said that the revised expansion plan was to have the additional capacity ready and available for "the gas season 2024-2025".

In June 2023, Wärtsilä was contracted to expand the project's capacity.

In September 2023, LNG Croatia said that it had started the necessary actions to begin the expansion. Over the coming weeks, it plans to complete project engineering of the new regasification module and to begin production of the module.

As of February 2024, the main part of the gasification module design process, as well as its installation and implementation of the existing gasification system on the FSRU terminal, had been completed, as reported by CE Energy News.

In May 2024, the European Commission approved €25 million in financing for the expansion project.

Phase 2 Expansion Project

• Owner:
• Parent: LNG Croatia LLC
• Location: Omišalj, Krk Island, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia
• Coordinates: 45.066667, 14.6 (approximate)
• Capacity: 4.1 bcm/y
  • Formerly 7 bcm/y
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Cost:
• FID status: Pre-FID
• Start year: 2030
• Associated infrastructure:

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day; bcm/y = billion cubic meters/year

Phase 2 Expansion Background

According to ENTSOG's Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) as of October 2022, the promoters are considering developing an onshore LNG terminal near the FSRU with capacity of 7 bcm/y.

The project was included in ENTSOG's TYNDP as of June 2024, now with a capacity of 4.1 bcm/y.

Opposition

Due to environmental and economic concerns, the terminal remains largely unpopular among local residents. According to Food and Water Europe, "...the project is now strongly opposed by all local municipalities from Krk Island, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and by local environmental NGOs." In March 2018, thousands of protestors gathered in Rijeka, Croatia to oppose the terminal.

Local opposition groups cite concern over how the terminal will impact the bay and its marine life. The terminal plans to use sea water from the bay in the process of converting product from a liquid to a gas, which will cool the water, leading to environmental consequences for the small bay. The terminal operators also plan to use chlorine to protect the pipes against algae and shells, which will cause further environmental damage. Local groups opposing the terminal include Zelena Akcija and Eko Kvarner. Environmentalists and Krk local municipalities organised a protest against the terminal in March of 2018. Meanwhile, the government passed a new law which would speed up construction of the terminal.

International opposition has warned that the terminal would likely be importing fracked gas from America, making it a particularly detrimental project for the climate.