Plinacro at the International scientific and expert meeting of gas professionals

The Jubilee 40th International Scientific and Experts Meeting of Gas Professionals organized by the Croatian Gas Association (HSUP) is being held in Opatija. At this largest energy conference in this part of Europe, until Friday, May 10, several hundred Croatian and international experts, including Plinacro employees, are going to present current events in the gas sector in Croatia and the world and learn about key guidelines for its future development.

At the opening ceremony of the conference, the gathered experts were welcomed by the President of the Croatian Gas Association (HSUP) Dalibor Pudić, the Vice President and future President of the International Gas Union (IGU) (2025-2028) Andrea Stegher, and on behalf of Plinacro by the members of the Board, Dalibor Mikulić and Daria Krstičević.



In her speech, Daria Krstičević referred to the strategic decision of the Croatian Government on the construction of the LNG terminal on the island of Krk, which consequently led to the European Commission recognizing the project Expanding the capacity of the LNG terminal on the island of Krk and strengthening the gas infrastructure as necessary for strengthening Croatia's security of supply as well as its transforming into an energy hub for Central and South-Eastern Europe. This was made possible by the Croatian Government through allocating grants from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

"I would like to remind you that in March the Zlobin-Bosiljevo gas pipeline (58 km long and 140 million euro worth) was put into trial run, and that works are underway on the Zabok-Lučko gas pipeline (36 km long and 78 million euro worth), which will largely increase the capacity of gas pipelines towards Slovenia. Simultaneously, preparations are underway for the construction of the remaining two gas pipelines: Bosiljevo-Sisak and Kozarac-Sisak, for which the procurement of pipes and equipment have been contracted, while the procurement of construction works is in progress. We are also focusing on activities on the construction of the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline and the Southern interconnection with Bosnia and Herzegovina", said Krstičević.

"Strategic thinking and planning have always been a characteristic of Plinacro, therefore our experts are actively monitoring the technologies for the transport and use of hydrogen, biomethane and other decarbonized gases that will pass through Plinacro's gas pipelines in the future," said Krstičević, emphasizing that this is a generational project that will be vital in the decarbonization process towards a low-carbon economy in which natural gas will play a key role as a transitional fuel.

The conference continued with a round table discussion on the topic of The role of natural gas in the global energy transition. In the discussion Assoc. Prof. Darko Pavlović, Ph. D., Advisor to the President of the Plinacro Board, participated as a representative of Plinacro, along with Zsuzsanna Ortutay (INA), Zvonimir Šibalić (PPD), Petar Sprčić (HEP), Ivan Fugaš (LNG Croatia), Boris Miljavac (Simens Energy), Nenad Hranilović (Međimurje plin) and Mario Matković (MET Croatia Energy Trade).



This year as well Plinacro employees are actively participating in this central professional gathering of the gas industry as panellists, authors and co-authors of professional papers.