ZAGREB, 29 Oct (Hina) - Large natural gas deposits in Molve, northern Croatia, were discovered in 1974, while the commercial exploitation of this biggest Croatian gas field started in 1981, and so far the field has produced 22 billion cubic metres of gas and two million tonnes of gas condensate.

INA, which operates the field, says that this gas field in the area of Podravina has become the most important onshore source of hydrocarbons in Croatia.

The entire project in this basin consists of the following fields: Kalinovac, Stari Gradac and Gola Duboka as major fields, and four smaller ones: Ferdinandovac, Gola, Hampovica-Čepelovec and Pepelana.

In 1981, INA built the Molve Central Gas Station and this ushered in the commercial exploitation of the basin.

In 1984, INA upgraded the technology to make the production more environmentally friendly.

In 2023, over 500 million cubic metres of natural gas were processed on site.

Natural gas obtained from the existing Molve gas project makes up 56% of the gas supplies which INA adds to the gas provision system. 

However, the deposits in the Molve field have been reduced over the years.

INA discovers new gas field in north Croatia

On the other hand, INA has conducted exploration of the entire region of Podravina.

In July 2019, this oil and gas company stated that it had discovered a new natural gas deposit at the Drava-02 exploration site and that findings of exploration work at the Severovci-1 gas well indicated a total of 53,000 cubic metres of gas a day.

INA registered the new well with the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency. The discovery is in the vicinity of INA's exploitation fields in Molve, Kalinovac and Ferdinandovac.

The depth of the well is 3,410 metres and INA is conducting the necessary preparations to put the well into operation.

(Hina)