Company history

Company history

The gas company Plinara d.o.o. Pula was built in 1880 in the today’s city centre, with a production capacity of 5,000 m³/day of illuminating gas.

The rapid development of the city of Pula until World War I and the need to use the produced gas not only for lighting but also for heating, resulted in the construction of a larger gas production facility at a new location in Veruda Bay.

Thus, in 1912, a gas plant with a capacity of 15,000 m³/day was put into operation, utilizing the gas production technology based on dry distillation of coal in vertical retort furnaces. Ancillary plant for the extraction and treatment of tar and ammonia water was also built, as well as for purifying gas from sulphur and other impurities, sized for the production capacity of the gas plant of 30,000 m³/day.

During World War II, despite occasional work interruptions due to damage to the gas distribution network caused by bombing, the production facilities were not damaged. Immediately after the war, the gas company resumed its operation, but under very unfavourable conditions, both due to low gas consumption and the use of low-quality domestic coal from Raša as the raw material in the production process. The gas produced from this coal contained a high sulphur content, which caused lasting harmful effects on the production facilities, ancillary plant and distribution system.

In 1968, a new gas plant was built at the location of Nova plinara (Šijana Industrial Zone) for the production of city gas based on the technology of thermocatalytic cracking of liquid (primary gasoline) or gaseous hydrocarbons (propane-butane), with a capacity of 50,000 m³/day (liquid raw material) or 60,000 m³/day (gaseous raw material). In 1973, the plant was reconstructed, and with the improvements made to the technological process, the production capacity of city gas was increased to 100,000 m³/day and 120,000 m³/day respectively.

Until 1980, the basic raw material for the production of city gas was primary gasoline (C5-70) with the cold carburization of the produced gas using a standard mixture of propane-butane (HRN B.H2.134). Since primary gasoline from refineries was directed to chemical processing, and due to the much easier handling of gaseous raw material, the gas plant in Pula fully transitioned to the production of city gas from gaseous hydrocarbons (LPG - liquefied petroleum gas => propane-butane).

The today’s  company Plinara d.o.o. Pula was established in late 1998 and is owned by: INA - Industrija nafte d.d. (49%), the City of Pula-Pola (41%), and County of Istria - Regione Istriana (10%).