Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development, Davor Filipovic, said in Brussels on Tuesday that Croatia would "conduct activities to strengthen the capacity of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and oil pipelines to neighboring countries," state agency Hina reported, citing a press release.

Hina did not provide any details of the plan.

“The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development said that at an extraordinary meeting of the Energy Council in Brussels, energy ministers reached a political agreement on the proposal for a Council Regulation on Coordinated Demand Reduction Measures for Gas, that is, a voluntary reduction in natural gas demand by 15 percent this winter in order to increase the security of energy supply in the EU,” Hina said.

The Council Regulation envisages the possibility of declaring a “Union Alert” on security of supply, which would make gas demand reduction mandatory.

“In this context, the Council allowed certain exemptions and deviations from the target reduction in order to respect the specific aspects of member states and ensure balance between reduced gas demand and increased security of supply in the EU,” Hina said, citing the unsigned press release.

“Croatia supports the Commission’s measures, and this week the Croatian government will issue savings guidelines, which are voluntary and can be used by all consumers, households, public institutions, and industries,” the press release said.

“We see this as the first step in reducing energy demand and ensuring the security of supply both for the citizens and for the economy,” Hina quoted Filipovic as saying.

“The ministers also exchanged views on the energy situation in Europe in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, initiatives proposed by the Commission on 20 July in the package “Save Gas for a Safe Winter”, their national measures and contingency plans, as well as on further short-term actions for strengthening the security of energy supply in the European Union,” Hina said, without clarifying what their views were.