As gas prices are going up all across Europe, Croatia is responding by increasing its domestic production of that energy source, the Vecernji List daily reported on Friday in an analysis carried by state agency Hina.

According to the state regulator, Croatia produced 0.78 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, which covered 30 percent of the entire domestic demand – which totals 2.7 billion cubic meters. Hina did not say where the remaining 70 percent came from.

As new wells launched this year are expected to bring in an additional 285 million cubic meters of gas per year, the total extraction volume in Croatia will likely be more than 1 billion cubic meters, covering 40 percent of the local demand.

The new wells in Croatia are largely in the so-called Pannonian basin in northern Croatia, where several companies are currently exploring new sites, including the national oil firm Ina and private-owned companies Vermilion Zagreb Exploration and Aspect Croatia Kft.

Vermilion, a local subsidiary of the Canadian multinational firm, is expected to begin extracting gas from fields in Berak and Ceric in eastern Slavonia. These are each expected to bring in 250,000 cubic meters of gas per day. New reserves of natural gas discovered by Ina are estimated to bring in 55,700 cubic meters a day. In addition, contracts are expected to be closed with Aspect Croatia and Vermilion Zagreb Exploration for fields in central Croatia.

Ina on Thursday reported that it has launched production of natural gas from a new well in the northern Adriatic. Its capacity is expected to be around 150,000 cubic meters per day.