Academy Members

Zelić Mirko, F.C.A.

Academic titles:

• Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Doctor of Science

Institutions:

• full professor, retired – Faculty of Mining Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb

Functions in Academy:

• chair – Scientific Council for Crude Oil and Gas Economy and Power Supply (2017 – 1/3/2023)
• member of the Presidency – Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (01/01/2011 – 12/31/2018)
• secretary – Department of Technical Sciences (01/01/2004 – 12/31/2010)

Membership in Academy:

• full member – Department of Technical Sciences (05/18/2000 – 1/3/2023)
• associate member – Department of Technical Sciences (01/30/1997 – 05/18/2000)

Mirko Zelić, F.C.A., a prominent Croatian mining engineer, expert in the production and transport of oil and natural gas, was born on November 8, 1936, in Kandija near Bugojno. He graduated in 1964 from the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering in Zagreb, where he received his Doctorate in 1982.

He worked at INA-Naftaplin, where from 1995 to 2001 he was director of the Oil and Gas Production Sector and executive director of the company from 2004 to 2008. Since 1990 he has been a full professor at the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering in Zagreb. He taught courses mining, oil and gas extraction and oil and gas collection and transport technology.

He has been a full member of CASA since 2000, and since 1997 he has been an associate member. From 2004 to 2010 he was secretary of the Department of Technical Sciences, and from 2011 to 2018 a member of the Presidency of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was chair of the Scientific Council for Oil and Gas of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1999 to 2017, and from 2017 until his death the chair of the Scientific Council for Oil and Gas Economy and Power Supply. He was also president of the Croatian Association of Petroleum Engineers and Geologists from 2004 to 2018 and editor-in-chief of Nafta i plin magazine from 2004 to 2015.

Mirko Zelić dealt with thermodynamics and physics of multiphase fluid flow through pipes, optimization of production and collection-dispatch systems of oil and gas, design of deep gas and gas-condensate wells, increasing oil and gas production, technology of injection and disposal of technological waste into deep geological formations.

He has published over 50 scientific papers that have contributed to the development of science in the field of petroleum engineering and numerous professional papers that have contributed to the development of oil and gas production technology. Among other things, he is the author of The Technology of Extracting Oil and Gas by Erupting and Gas Lift (1977), Technology of Collecting and Preparing Oil and Gas for Transportation (1987), Technology of Transport of Oil and Gas by Main Pipelines (2002) and Technology of Oil Production by Deep Pumps (with Marin Čikeš, 2006). He was the author of eight innovations that significantly influenced the rationalization, optimization and profitability of the oil and gas production process.

For special merits for the Republic of Croatia acquired in war, direct danger of war or in exceptional circumstances in war, he received the Order of the Croatian Trefoil in 1997. In 2007 he received the Order of Croatian Morning Star with the image of Blaž Lorković for special merits in the economy.