With a strategic location, existing hydrocarbon potential, and streamlined regulations in place now, Croatia is preparing to launch its first offshore and onshore licensing round.

But companies eager to venture onto Croatia’s side of the Adriatic Sea, hoping to hit hydrocarbon pay in the proven Pliocene gas plays of the Northern Adriatic or tap oil in the pre-Tertiary farther south, will have to wait a bit longer to learn exactly which blocks will be available and the fiscal terms. Such information is likely to come at the end of February or the beginning of March, according to Alen Leveric, the country’s deputy economy minister, who spoke this week at NAPE International in Houston.

“With the new law [and] with the new data and everything, it’s something that is very interesting and positive in the business,” Leveric said. When asked about the country’s hydrocarbon potential, he replied, “It’s huge.”

It’s too early, however, to speak in absolute terms concerning resource expectation. Spectrum, the firm that acquired new seismic data targeting underexplored areas of the Adriatic basin, is still processing and interpreting the data.

“What we can say is we are seeing, with the better, higher-resolution data, lots of structures that are possibly hydrocarbon-bearing both within the shallow gas-prone section, which is the Miocene-Pliocene, [and] also within the deeper carbonate play, which already has oil-proven structures on the Italian side of the Adriatic,” said Jevon Hilder, project manager for Spectrum.

Beginning in September 2013, Spectrum acquired multiclient 2-D seismic data offshore Croatia, covering approximately 15,000 km (9,320 miles) of long offset with a 5-km by 5-km (3-mile by 3-mile) grid. Final data are expected to be delivered sometime this month, with the data room opening in the first half of March. All processed data will be available by early April.

The offshore license round will open by 2Q 2014, followed by the opening of the onshore license round by 3Q 2014.

While speaking Feb. 5 at NAPE, Leveric said the Parliament passed legislation establishing a hydrocarbon agency two weeks ago, and it will be fully functioning in a few days. This comes after the country devised a new hydrocarbon law in 2013.

Barbara Doric, project manager for exploration and production of hydrocarbons at the Croatian government’s Center for Monitoring of Energy Business and Investments, also spoke about the country’s exploration opportunities and its market potential during the presentation with the deputy minister. also spoke about the country’s exploration opportunities and its market potential during the presentation with the deputy minister.

“We have a proven hydrocarbon province which is largely unexplored. We have a stable democracy. We have recently become a member of the European Union, and we are a member of NATO,” she said. “We have a significant offshore area – 57,000 sq km [22,008 sq miles]. We have [a] skilled labor force, … and we have a government which is very committed to positive reforms in Croatia, especially when it comes to investments in hydrocarbons.”

Croatia currently has approximately 60 exploration fields, including 57 onshore and three offshore, Doric said before comparing offshore Croatia to Italy’s more developed offshore acreage. Italy has drilled more than 1,350 wells offshore the Adriatic, compared to Croatia’s 116. Italy has discovered recoverable reserves of 3.6 Bboe, compared to Croatia’s 241 MMboe.

“This is proof of how underexplored the Croatian side of the Adriatic Sea is,” Doric said. She later referred to the 75,000 km (46,603 miles) of vintage 2-D data spanning as far back as the 1970s and said, “We can surely say that on the northern part of the country there is a proven gas area, and on the southern part of the country there is a proven oil area.”

Public tenders will be announced in 2Q 2014 and will last six months.

Contact the author, Velda Addison, at vaddison@hartenergy.com.