Croatia’s main underground gas storage facility entered mid-January with stock levels well below the seasonal norm, the result of a harsh winter and last autumn’s temporary shutdown of the Krk LNG terminal. Heavy snowfall and prolonged sub-zero temperatures accelerated withdrawals from the Okoli storage site, leaving it less filled than both last year and the current European average.
At the start of this week, Okoli stood at around 32% fullness, equivalent to roughly 1.51 billion kWh of natural gas. On the same date last year the facility was close to 51% full, a level that was not reached until a month later in the previous winter. Across the European Union, underground gas storage sites are currently about 55% filled, with the year-on-year decline at EU level noticeably smaller than in Croatia.
Authorities say the lower storage balance is largely linked to the prolonged interruption of operations at the Krk LNG terminal during its upgrade. The Ministry of Economy stressed that winter supply security does not depend solely on storage volumes, but on a broader mix that includes LNG imports, cross-border pipeline flows and domestic gas production.
The storage operator noted that until early September last year, Okoli had been filled above the EU average. Once the LNG terminal went offline to install an additional module, the storage facility became the backbone of gas supply for Croatia, ensuring uninterrupted deliveries until mid-November 2025.
During that period, the Krk terminal was unavailable for more than six weeks as its regasification capacity was expanded from 3.9 to 6.1 billion cubic meters per year. Although the upgrade temporarily increased reliance on storage withdrawals, officials say the terminal has since returned to operation with higher throughput, strengthening long-term supply security for Croatia and neighboring markets.