He confirmed that the company was interested in buying OMV's petrol stations in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and that it had sent a bid to the Austrian oil company but had not received an answer yet.
Through its daughter company in Croatia, Nestro Sava, Zarubezhneft wants to take part in the exploration of hydrocarbon on nine locations in Croatia and is willing to invest more than 100 million euros in that project. Fifty-one percent of the funding for the project would be provided by the Russian company, 10 percent by JANAF and the rest by private investors, he said.
Asked why Zarubezhneft wanted to embark on the project with JANAF which did not have experience in oil and gas exploration, rather than with INA, Brunich said that unlike INA, JANAF had expressed readiness to participate while INA did not reply to a letter Zarubezhneft had sent it in that regard.
This does not mean that INA would not be able to process raw materials from those locations, he said. In that context, he mentioned that Zarubezhneft and other Russian energy companies sometimes felt unwelcome in Croatia.
Asked about the role of the White Falcon Industries company, behind which are allegedly Croatian business people and which together with JANAF and Zarubezhneft would bid to carry out the exploration work, Brunich said that the engagement of such companies was not contrary to law and that he did not know exactly which business people were behind that company.
Zarubezhneft has no intention of entering JANAF's ownership structure, but that possibility is considered by the Transneft company, should JANAF be privatised, he said.
The second project which Zarubezhneft wants to enter in Croatia is investment in JANAF's infrastructure, that is, in its transportation and storage facilities. JANAF's oil pipeline is currently used at 30 percent capacity, and Zarubezhneft wants to increase it and use the storage tanks at Omisalj for Russian oil intended for export to spot markets.
The third project is the construction of the products pipeline Slavonski Brod - Zagreb - Omisalj that would be used for the export of oil products that have not been sold in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, produced by the oil refinery in Bosanski Brod and INA's refineries, Brunich said, adding that in that project, Zarubezhneft wanted to have a controlling ownership and management interest.
He estimated the total value of investments in JANAF and the products pipeline at more than one billion euros.
He said Zarubezhneft would discuss the three projects Tuesday with Economy Minister Radimir Cacic.