Montenegrin Ministry of Economy announced that public debate on gasification Master plan, with a report on the strategic assessment of environmental impact, has started on 16 January and will last until 16 February.
The aim of this public debate is to inform all interested parties on the current draft of gasification Master plan, which was approved during the tenth session of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The statement from the Ministry reminded that the WBIF has approved a grant of 550,000 euros to Montenegro for the preparation of gasification Master plan.
Gasification Master plan represents an overview of the gas market in Montenegro, as well as institutional measures that should be undertaken at the level of Ministries and relevant regulators. Also, under the Law on strategic assessment of environmental impact, the Ministry of Economy has issued a decision on the development of the environmental impact study for the gasification Master plan, on basis of which draft report was prepared.
The gasification of Montenegro is closely related to the project of Ionian-Adriatic gas pipeline (IAP), which represents the link between the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) project and existing Croatian gas transport system, will enable stable natural gas supply of Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries. Capacity of the future pipeline will be 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, its total length will be 530 kilometers, of which 250 will be in Croatia. Total cost of the project is estimated at 620 million euros.
In August 2016, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the representatives of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a project for the constriction of IAP.
