Croatia dealt a major blow to the long-delayed international Druzhba-Adria oil pipeline after its experts rejected a key environmental study late on Tuesday.An environmental ministry's commission said the study on the impact the pipeline may have on the Adriatic Sea and its pristine coastline was "incomplete and not based enough on expert knowledge," state radio reported.
The government, under strong pressure from environmentalists, required a study as the former Yugoslav republic's economy is strongly based on tourism.
The Druzhba-Adria project is aimed at connecting Russian oilfields with the Mediterranean through the Croatian deep-sea port of Omisalj. It was initially planned to kick off in late 2003, but was delayed due to environmental concerns in Croatia.
The environmental ministry is now due to decide within one month on the project's future.
The rejected study was prepared by local experts on behalf of the Croatian oil pipeline operator Janaf. It already had to be reworked twice earlier this year as the environmental ministry said it was not satisfied with the way some key issues were treated.
The main issues of concern included risks related to an increased number of tankers that would sail in the Adriatic and the ballast waters they discharge in the sea before loading crude.
The pipeline project, including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia, envisages a gradual increase of crude transport from 5 million to 15 million tonnes a year (100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day).
Russia expressed strong interest in its implementation given its ambition to find new ways of boosting oil exports.
Source: Reuters
26.10.2005