New York — The 2.6 Bcm/year capacity LNG import terminal in Croatia received its third cargo on March 24, according to cFlow, Platts trade flow software, with a cargo brought in from Freeport in the US aboard the Patris.
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Register NowThe LNG Croatia -- a dedicated FSRU acting as a gateway for international LNG supplies into Croatia and the southeast European region for the first time -- received its first cargo on Jan. 1 from the Cove Point export terminal in the US, marking the start of operations.
A second cargo was delivered on March 2 aboard the Adam LNG from Nigeria, which according to market sources was thought to be part of a five-cargo tender held by Croatian utility HEP in late 2020.
A total of 1.88 Bcm of capacity has been booked at the Croatia facility for the period Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 2021, with the full capacity of 2.6 Bcm/year booked for the following two gas years.
However, a spike in spot LNG prices in January saw cargoes pulled to higher-priced markets instead of coming to Croatia.
Spot LNG prices have been hit by extreme price volatility over the past year, with the JKM benchmark spot Asian LNG price hitting an all-time low $1.825/MMBtu at the end of last April before rising to a record high $32.50/MMBtu in mid-January.
Prices have softened since then, with S&P Global Platts assessing the front-month JKM price at $6.78/MMBtu on March 23.
Among those with capacity at the Croatian terminal are the Croatian trading subsidiaries of Switzerland-based MET and Hungary's MFGK, Qatari-owned PowerGlobe Europe and HEP.
MFGK has already agreed a deal with Shell for 0.25 Bcm/year of LNG supply into the Croatian terminal that will then be shipped onward to Hungary.
HEP, meanwhile, is a key supplier of domestic gas in Croatia, while PowerGlobe has more of a pure-play trading strategy and is looking to expand its role by booking more import capacity in southern Europe.
Croatia LNG -- a joint venture of HEP and Croatian grid operator Plinacro -- operates the FSRU project.
It confirmed the arrival of the Patris into the terminal on March 24 in a statement posted to its website.