The Croatian government has approved a loan of up to one billion euros to Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) to finance the purchase of electricity, gas, coal and heat, as well as the purchase of gas that HEP will push into an underground storage facility in Okola.
HEP has been granted a loan from commercial banks in the amount of 600 million euros, to finance the purchase of electricity, gas, coal and heat, writes Poslovni.hr.
Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipovic said that the government’s move was motivated by providing a sufficient amount of energy for citizens and the economy, under the influence of the crisis in Ukraine.
The government also instructed HEP to secure 270.83 million cubic meters of gas in order to secure gas supplies on the territory of Croatia and push it into the underground storage of this energy source, Okoli. For this purpose, HEP was granted a loan from commercial banks up to the amount of EUR 400 million.
According to the government’s decision, the state will issue state guarantees to HEP for both loans on Friday, Biznis reports.