Croatia has opened its first onshore licensing round, offering oil and gas companies a chance to find hydrocarbons that could lie in six blocks across the Drava, East Slavonia and Sava region.

The public tender, opened July 18 by Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljack, is the first of three planned for blocks ranging in size from 2,100 sq km to 2,600 sq km (811 sq miles to 1,004 sq miles), according to the Croatian Hydrocarbons Agency (CHA). The round announced today totals 14,600 sq km (5,637 sq miles).

“As Minister Vrdoljak stated, in spite of the fact that [the] Slavonija region was the main well field for crude oil and natural gas in the last 40 years, the real potential was not accomplished. A simple comparison of Hungary and Croatia illustrates that whilst both have a similar-sized onshore area in the Pannonian [Basin], Croatia has only 33% of the number of exploratory wells drilled onshore compared to Hungary and less than 52% of the recoverable reserves discovered to date,” CHA said in a prepared statement. “However, underexplored (but proven) potential and geostrategic location give Croatia fully the right to insist on becoming one of the most interesting countries on the map of oil and gas business in this part of the world.”

Onshore production averaged 12,600 boe/d of gas and 10,900 bbl/d of oil and condensate in 2013, said Barbara Doric, president of the management board for CHA. However, more potential exists, considering audit data as of Dec. 31, 2013, show Croatia has a total of 163 MMboe of proved reserves onshore, which include 61.3 MMboe of onshore proved gas reserves.

Moreover, preliminary analysis of the seismic and other available data shows that the Pannonian contains “significant remaining potential,” according to CHA.

The launch of the onshore licensing rounds comes just more than three months after the offshore licensing round opened, offering 29 blocks covering a total of 36,823 sq km (14,217 sq miles). Fiscal terms are based on a production-sharing agreement model. The exploration phase covers five years, and the production phase spans 25 years.

In anticipation of the rounds, Croatian officials touted the country's hydrocarbon potential. Their stops included Houston, where Alen Leveric, deputy economy minister for Croatia, spoke at NAPE International in February along with Doric. In the last few years, Croatia has streamlined regulations, opened the CHA and updated its hydrocarbons law, which is aligned with EU regulations and worldwide best practices.

“Croatia must work under the EU’s terms. That means stability for companies that come to Croatia,” Leveric told E&P during an interview in February. He added that Croatia is on the same footing as Italy, Cyprus and Greece. “What is there is also in Croatia. So this gives investors security. Also, this means that the company has to deal with the rules and directives in the areas of the environment, production and free market.”

So far, the offshore round is generating interest.

“Until now we had more than 40 major companies coming into the data room and analyzing our geological data,” Doric said. “The interest is huge, but it is hard to say at this time how many bids we will eventually receive.”

The offshore license round will close Nov. 3. The onshore round is scheduled to close Feb. 18, 2015.

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