Adriatic Sea Floating LNG Terminal in Croatia is the Key to U.S. LNG Replacing Russian Gas in Eastern Europe

     The U.S. aims to replace most of the 12% of natural gas that Eastern Europe currently gets from Russia as it plans to end Russian gas imports by the end of 2027. The EU has spent billions on infrastructure to be able to handle the LNG volumes needed. This is expected to make the EU the largest LNG importer in the world and the largest importer of U.S. natural gas. AFP writes:

“One of the key sites is Croatia's floating LNG terminal off the island of Krk, which following a recent upgrade is now capable of handling around two percent of the EU's annual gas consumption at nearly 6.1 billion cubic metres.”

     That is equivalent to about 550MMCF/day. Existing pipelines will connect the supply to Hungary and Central Europe. The U.S is also poised to replace Norway as the EU's largest natural gas supplier in 2026.

“The US-backed pipeline between the Balkan nations plans to link Bosnia to Krk, and loop it into Europe's gas network.”

     A map of the proposed Southern Interconnection pipeline route through southern Croatia and then through Bosnia and Herzegovina is shown below. The pipeline has been agreed upon by the countries and is expected to be built with U.S. private sector investment.

     The U.S. also has a plan to create a major gas and oil transit hub in Croatia, part of which is a pipeline network dubbed “peace pipelines.” Croatia also hosts oil pipelines connecting to Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Serbia, with a capacity of nearly 500 million barrels per day.

     The terminal in Croatia was half-funded by the EU and became operational in 2021. Some options for storing the gas needed for winter, including in Ukraine’s high-capacity gas storage fields, are discussed below in the AFP article:

“Boasting one of Europe's largest underground gas storage networks, much of it dating back to the Soviet era, Ukraine could also solve a key problem of storing the large amounts of imported gas that could then also be sent elsewhere in Europe.”

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met earlier this year to discuss energy supply and storage, but there have been no official announcements.”

“With major investments, it could become a shorter and cheaper route to Ukraine than existing options via Greece or Poland.”

"But that does not mean anything if Croatia does not have the capacity," Fugas said, flagging the necessary pipeline upgrade for any new demand.”

 

References:

 

US eyes European gas dominance through Balkans. AFP. July 31, 2026. US eyes European gas dominance through Balkans

U.S. Poised to Lead Bosnia's Stalled Gas Pipeline Project. Institute of Energy for South-East Europe. November 24, 2025. U.S. Poised to Lead Bosnia's Stalled Gas Pipeline Project - Institute of Energy for South-East Europe