The companies within the Croatian gas sector recorded revenues in the amount of 1.82 billion euros in 2015, while their aggregated net profit amounted to 87.2 million euros. The dominant player in the Croatian gas market is Prvo Plinarstvo Drustvo (PPD), which squeezed the company Prirodni Plin to second place and now controls about the third of the market, while private-owned companies dominate the market in general.
These are the facts presented in a report published by the Institute for Public Finance. The report analyzed the implementation of the EU Directive on the liberalization of gas market in Croatia, major participants on the gas market and the size and structure of gas supply and distribution sector in particular. Since its accession to the EU in 2013, Croatia carries out intensive market liberalization which should be completed in 2017 by abolishing the monopoly in the supply of natural gas. According to Government’s decision, the entry of other participants on the market remained limited, and the monopoly of state-owned HEP in the wholesale market was extended to 31 March 2017. Until 2016, Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA) issued 100 licenses for carrying out activities in Croatian gas market.
According to the report, privately held companies had less than 10 % market share in 2010, but in 2015 the share has increased to over 70 %. Prvo Plinarsko Drustvo (PPD) is mostly credited for this change, since its sales revenues grew from 6.85 million euros in 2011 to almost 540 million euros in 2015. The report also analyzed other major market participants: Prirodni Plin (which recorded 350 million euros in sales revenues in 2015), Gradska Plinara Zagreb (160 million euros in sales revenues), Crodux (110 million euros) and GEN-I (102 million euros).
The liberalization of gas market is also evident in retail. In 2014, 1,852 changes of gas supplier were recorded, which is 250 % increase compared to 2013. Total sales revenues in retail market amounted to some 270 million euros, in which private sector has 10 % market share, public enterprises have 60 % market share, while the remaining 30 % is held by private companies in which the state holds certain stake. HEP-Plin had the largest retail market share in 2015 with 52.5 million euros in sales revenues, followed by Termoplin, Gradska Plinara Zagreb and Medjumurje Plin, which all recorded between 27 and 33 million euros in sales revenues.
