Kazakhstan wants to increase oil exports via Croatia's Adria pipeline

ASTANA. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan and Croatia will begin negotiations on increasing exports of Kazakh oil via the Adria oil pipeline, Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The agreements were reached during a meeting between the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Croatia Akylbek Kamaldinov and Chairman of the Board of Croatia's oil pipeline system operator Jadranski naftovod (JANAF), Stjepan Adanic.

"Considering that 70% of Kazakh oil exports go to the European Union, Kazakhstan is ready to consider the possibility of expanding its exports to the EU and Croatia in particular and contribute to mitigating the global energy crisis," Kamaldinov said in the release.

The Croatian company then expressed interest in increasing exports of Kazakh oil to consumers in the Balkan and Eastern European countries through the Croatian Adria oil pipeline.

"The parties agreed to begin practical negotiations on the possible use of this route for transporting Kazakh oil. For this purpose, in the near future, representatives of state-owned KazMunayGas JSC plan to visit the cities of Zagreb and Rijeka, as well as familiarize themselves with the capabilities of the Omisalj oil terminal on the island of Krk," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, the countries will create a working group on energy with the participation of interested government agencies, businessmen and investors.

Croatian company JANAF operates an oil terminal on the island of Krk, an oil refinery in Rijeka and the Adria oil pipeline system in Croatia. The design capacity of the oil pipeline is 34 million tonnes of oil per year, while the installed capacity is 20 million tonnes, 40% of which goes to the domestic market of Croatia, and 60% which goes on to neighboring countries. The Adria pipeline network, starting from the Omisalj oil terminal, covers Croatia, Serbia and Hungary with branches to Slovenia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.