Regulatory Framework on Exploration and Exploitation of Croatian Part of Adriatic

As the prelude to the regulation of marine exploration and exploitation activities in the Croatian Adriatic waters, the new Mining Act and Act on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons have provided a general legal framework for the natural resources exploration and exploitation. The latter Act also appropriated the establishment of the independent regulatory body, the Hydrocarbon Agency. It is important to mention the Decree on Fees for exploration and production of hydrocarbons, and the Decree on main technical requirements on safety and security of offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Republic of Croatia, that are of special relevance for the current activities with regard the proposed project of exploration and exploitation of the Croatian waters in search for gas and oil sea-bed deposits. The Hydrocarbon Agency has published the Strategic Study of the Likely Significant Environmental Impact of the Framework Plan and Program of Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons in the Adriatic, a document receiving a lot of criticism from the legal experts and general public. At the same time, the experts tend to support the general idea of sea-bed exploration and exploitation, with the major antagonism still being present in the general public, with several initiatives introducing the possibility of a public referenda to oppose the sea-bed exploration and exploitation. The Government is currently preparing the Act on the Safety of Offshore Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Operations, based on the Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 1994 on the conditions for granting and using authorizations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1112/2014 of 13 October 2014 determining a common format for sharing of information on major hazard indicators by the operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations and a common format for the publication of the information on major hazard indicators by the Member States, and the Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC. The General Framework (Plan and Program) of Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons in the Adriatic envisages 29 exploration fields, and 10 companies have recently been granted a license to initiate the exploration of 10 exploration fields. In accordance with the Act on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, the duration of exploitation cycle is set to 25 years, with the possibility of further extension. In addition, two Croatian maritime ports opened for international trade (the Port of Ploce and the Port of Rijeka) have been centered out as the potential logistics ports for the planned offshore activities. (author).