The companies have not withdrawn from the signing, but this delay will also affect all future onshore hydrocarbons exploration tenders because for every exploration block the approval from the local authorities will be required.
Concession contracts for oil and gas exploration on six onshore blocks have not yet been signed, even though the new Croatian Government previously announced that they will be signed soon.
The contracts in question are to be signed with the companies that were selected on the public tender in 2014, which former Government refused to conclude before the elections. The companies which are waiting for concession contract signing are local oil company INA, Nigerian Oando and Canadian company Vermillion Energy, and all necessary negotiations with these companies have already been completed.
However, according to media, the contracts have not been signed yet because the State Attorney’s Office had some objections to the draft agreements, and there are ongoing meetings between the Office and the Ministry of Economy on this matter.
The companies have not withdrawn from the signing, but this delay will also affect all future onshore hydrocarbons exploration tenders because for every exploration block the approval from the local authorities will be required.
The tender was published in July 2014, and the deadline for bids submission passed on 18 February 2015. It includes six exploration areas or blocks spanning in size from 2,100 to 2,600 square kilometers in the Drava and Sava valleys and Eastern Slavonia. The exploration and exploitation licenses will be awarded for a maximum of 30 years, with the total exploration period of five years. In late March 2015, adopted a decision according to which Croatian oil company INA was awarded a license for one exploration area (Drava 2), Nigerian company Oando PLC also got license for one area (Drava 3), while Vermillion Zagreb Exploration, a daughter company of Canadian Vermillion Energy, received licenses for four exploration areas (Drava 4 and Sava 8, 9 and 10), transmits Serbia-energy.eu