ZAGREB, Nov. 3 (Xinhua)--Tender for offers for exploitation of oil and gas in the Croatian Adratic Sea ended on Monday, potentially bringing global energy companies to Croatia.
Croatian Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said that six companies are interested in 15 out of 29 exploration fields offered in the tender.
He said after opening the bids that these are eminent and expert companies, but refused to provide further detail.
Barbara Doric, Head of the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency (CHA), responsible for managing the tender procedure, said that the evaluation of the offers will start from Tuesday and only after reviewing of the offers, the names of companies will be revealed to the public.
The tender was opened in April and run until Nov. 3. Closing of the deal is scheduled in March 2015.
Tender envisages a 3-year exploration period, followed with a 2-year extension that includes the exploitation. Only after this 5 year period may the concessionaire receive a 25 year long exploitation concession in which the extensive drilling starts.
Upon the start of exploitation, 55 percent of earnings will go to the state and 45 percent to the investor, according to Doric.
Croatian government hired a Norwegian company Spectrum to make 2 dimensional records of the complete seabed in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea during Sept. 2013 and Jan. 2014.
After the screening of the seabed, the complete Croatian Adriatic Sea was put into 29 exploration fields. These fields are between 1000 and 1600 square kilometers each.
During the last 7 months, over 40 companies have had a look on these 2 dimensional maps, along with older records (made by Croatian state owned energy company INA), and 18 of them bought documentation paying 15 million kunas (about 2.72 million U.S. dollars) to the Hydrocarbons Agency, Doric said.
After opening the bids, an 8-member committee lead by Vrdoljak will go through the offers in next two months and additional two months of negotiations will followed after selecting the best offer for each field.
There is potential for 3 billion barrels of oil in the Adriatic Sea, referring to Croatia as potential "little Norway", Vrdoljak has said in an interview.
However, Doric refused to give any predictions of amounts of oil and gas while presenting the tender, only said "a strong potential is shown in the data made by Spectrum".
Ministry expects an investment of some of 50 million euros (62 million U.S. dollars) per field. Usually, 40 percent of these investments are consisted of domestic components, which would represent a strong impulse for struggling Croatian economy.
Having in made that offers of 15 fields are made, this could initiate 750 million euros of investments in Croatia, reviving the local economy.
During the first exploration period companies will have to pay around 650,000 euros (810,000 U.S. dollars) annually for each field. (1 euro = 1.25 U.S. dollars)
