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By Igor Ilic
ZAGREB, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Croatia has received six bids inan international tender for oil and gas exploration areas in theAdriatic Sea and will choose the best ones by the end of theyear, Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak said on Monday.
"We are satisfied, we've received bids from big, seriouscompanies," Vrdoljak told reporters. The government sees oilexploration as a key project for the newest European Unionmember, whose economy has been stuck in recession since 2008.
Croatia, an EU member since July last year, said earlierthis year it expected investment worth some $2.5 billion overthe next five years in exploration activities.
Local media have earlier reported oil majors like Exxon, Shell, Chevron and Total as beinginterested but Vrdoljak declined to name any of the bidders.
The tender, which closed on Monday after running for sevenmonths, comprised 29 block areas for exploration and futureexploitation, eight in the north and 21 in central and southernAdriatic. The size of one block ranges from 1,000 to 1,600square kilometres.
Each bidder was allowed to compete for an unlimited numberof blocks. The six submitted bids were for 15 blocks altogether,Vrdoljak said. The government plans to sign concessionagreements by the spring 2015.
The exploration concession will be awarded for five yearswith a possibility to extend it for another year, whileexploitation concessions are planned for 25 years.
According to the preliminary data, gas reserves are morelikely to be found in the north while crude deposits areexpected in the southern part of Croatia's Adriatic, where theseabed is deeper.
Local environment groups say oil drilling could destroy theAdriatic and hurt Croatia's lucrative tourism industry. Thegovernment said the concessionaires would be required to respectthe highest international environmental protection standards.
Croatia currently covers about 65 percent of its annual gasconsumption of 3 billion cubic metres from its own fieldsoffshore. It hopes to be able to meet the entire local demandfrom the domestic wells following the new exploration efforts.
Croatia is currently also running an international tenderfor onshore oil and gas exploration which expires in February.
(Reporting by Igor Ilic, writing by Zoran Radosavljevic,editing by David Evans)
