Page 15 - EurOil Week 43 2021

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Slovenian parliament says that promoting oil extraction is not in done much to transform Croatia’s image
Environment Minister Simonas Gentvilas
Sanader was widely credited with having
rejects motion to ban line with the Green Deal’s priorities and the from one of a former war-torn Balkan
goal of producing energy from renewable
backwater to a genuinely credible candidate
hydraulic fracking for fourth sources. for admission to the EU. However, he has
also become a symbol of corruption in
“Oil extraction in the vicinity of protected
time areas poses far more risks than potential Croatia.
He was previously sentenced for
benefits for the country,” he said on October
The Slovenian parliament rejected an 25. accepting a €10mn bribe from Hernadi, but
opposition-sponsored motion to ban The reasons for the refusal include in 2015 the Croatian Constitutional Court
hydraulic fracking in Slovenia on October opposition from the Kintai community and annulled the verdict.
26, news agency STA reported. the fact that almost all of the requested zone In October 2018 he was sentenced to
The motion to amend the mining act was covers tourism and protected environmental two and a half years imprisonment for war
filed in September by the opposition Left areas, according to the press release. profiteering in a retrial of the so-called
party, the List of Marjan Sarec (LMS) and Also, there are cultural assets in the area, Hypo Bank Affair. Six months later, he
Social Democrats (SD). it said, noting that the general plan adopted received another sentence in connection
This was the fourth attempt to ban in September provides for the development to the Planinska Affair, that concerned the
fracking, which would automatically prevent of tourism there. acquisition of a building by the regional
drilling plans of the British oil and gas Some 36 oil wells in 13 fields are development ministry at an inflated price.
company Ascent Resources in Petisovci field, currently in use in Lithuania, with their total
according to the article. production down by 21% in 2020 from 2019
Ascent Resources has already initiated to 38,000 m3. Eni and Novatek to
international arbitration proceedings against
Slovenia over a fracking dispute. announce exploratory
The dispute relates to the refusal of the Croatia’s supreme court
Slovenian authorities to grant a permit for drilling results from
hydraulic fracturing at the Petisovci gas confirms guilty verdicts
field, after the state failed to put forward a Montenegrin offshore by
damages proposal. for former PM, MOL head in
As part of direct pre-arbitration end-2021
settlement discussions Ascent Resources bribery case
had submitted a damages calculation to The results of the exploratory oil and gas
the Slovenian government totalling over Croatia’s supreme court said on October offshore drilling in Montenegro carried
€100mn. 25 it has upheld guilty verdicts against out by a tie-up of Italy’s Eni and Russia’s
Ascent holds a 75% interest in the former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader Novatek will be announced by the end of
Petisovci gas field in Slovenia, with its for taking a bribe from MOL head Zsolt December instead of end-September when
partner Geoenergo holding the remaining Hernadi, dismissing appeals by the USKOK they were previously expected, daily Vijesti
25% through a concession signed in 2002 anti-corruption office and the defendants. reported on October 23.
with a term of 19½ years, which is due for At the end of 2019, Sanader was The delay was due to unexpected
renewal in 2022. sentenced to six months in jail, while difficulties in the drilling process.
Hernadi got a two-year jail sentence. The “[D]ue to high pressure and abrasive
verdicts were appealed by both USKOK and effect on the equipment, the concessionaire
Lithuanian firm contests the defendants. is forced to change tools more often, so the
drilling process is somewhat slower than
The case, that has dragged on for around
decision to deny it permit to 10 years, concerns the privatisation of expected. Preliminary results are expected
in December,” Vijesti quoted the capital
Croatian energy company INA.
extract oil Sanader a €10mn bribe in exchange for investment ministry as saying in a notice.
The court found that Hernadi had given
The consortium started the exploratory
Minijos Nafta, a Lithuanian-Danish-Polish allowing MOL to take a dominant position drilling in March at a depth of 6,530
joint venture, announced on October 25 in INA. metres in the sea between Bar and Ulcinj,
it will contest the environment ministry’s According to the supreme court, Sanader and said it would last four and a half to six
decision not to issue it a permit to extract used his position and authority to make sure months.
oil in Kintai, in the western district of Silute, that Croatia signed the agreements in which The drilling should determine the
without a tender. the demands MOL made during negotiations potential of the deposit, while the
Minijos Nafta is now using eight oil on the agreements were accepted. production could start three to five years
fields in Klaipeda and Silute Districts and is The payment of the bribe was arranged after the completion of the first drilling.
extracting oil from 15 wells. via the conclusion of fictitious agreements In case of a positive result, the
The company says it extracted 45,100 on consulting and other services with one consortium’s next step would be to start
barrels of oil in the first nine months of this company, which received €5mn in 2009 and developing the drilling site that would
year, compared to 50,600 barrels extracted was supposed to pay it to Sanader after some last between two and three years. Oil
during the same period last year. time, while the payment of the other €5mn production could begin in 2024.
Minijos Nafta has been seeking to extract was never made, the supreme court said. Montenegro has so far concluded two
oil in Kintai without a tender since 2003. Currently, MOL owns 49% of INA and concession agreements for offshore drilling
Earlier in the day, the Lithuanian the Croatian state owns 45%. in the region of Ulcinj and Bar.
Environment Ministry refused to issue Sanader was the longest-serving prime The other contract was signed in
Minijos Nafta a permit to extract oil in minister in post-independence Croatia, 2017 with the London-based company
Kintai. holding the post from 2003 to 2009. Energean, which currently is looking for

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