http://www.portfolio.hu/en/cikkek.tdp?k=1&i=18986

November 25, 2009, 9:28 am

The gong has sounded again in the ring where Hungary’s MOL and the Croatian government are pounding each other for some time now. According to Croatian press reports, MOL has put a very small bid on the table for INA’s oil fields in Syria and the state would be willing to pay more than that.

Rumours have been circulating for weeks that MOL would buy half of INA’s stake in oil fields in Syria so that INA may use the proceeds to repay its debts (HRK 1.5 billion) towards the state.

Croatian daily Novi list reported on Tuesday that as MOL wants to purchase the lucrative oil fields for less than the market price, the government, which holds 44% of INA, decided to compete via a consortium of domestic companies lead by Janaf.

There is no further information about the composition of the consortium. The question awaiting an answer right now is what exactly the Croatian government wants. We do not find it impossible that the whole issue is linked to a reported (and then refuted) interest of Russia’s Surgutneftegas in INA and this is the way the parties are trying to put pressure on one another. The dispute between MOL and the state is about the detachment of the INA’s loss-making gas business, as that transactions should have been concluded by now.