Future of Croatian refinery remains uncertain

Sept. 19, 2014
Croatia’s Ministry of Economy said it remains to committed to working with Hungary’s state-owned MOL PLC, a subsidiary of MOL Group, Budapest, to prevent the shuttering of jointly owned INA Industrija Nafte d.d.’s  44,000-b/d refinery in Sisak, Croatia, located about 30 miles south of Zagreb.  

Croatia’s Ministry of Economy said it remains to committed to working with Hungary’s state-owned MOL PLC, a subsidiary of MOL Group, Budapest, to prevent the shuttering of jointly owned INA Industrija Nafte d.d.’s 44,000-b/d refinery in Sisak, Croatia, 30 miles south of Zagreb.

“After INA presents results of an analysis of its refining business, the government and Ministry of Economy will, as always, do everything in our power to protect Croatian interests in the strategic oil company and ensure energy stability for Croatia,” according to a Sept. 19 release from the ministry.

Croatia is continuing negotiations with MOL to amend the current INA ownership agreement because the current contract forbids the Croatian government from participating in the management of the strategically important company, the ministry said.

A timeframe for when INA will release the evaluation of its refining operations was not disclosed.

The statement came in response to media reports earlier in the day that INA may be considering closing the Sisak refinery, which is one of two Croatian refineries operated by INA, a stock company in which MOL and the Republic of Croatia are majority shareholders.

The current corporate governance structure of INA reflects MOL’s management control, in line with the first amendment to the shareholders agreement signed by MOL and the Croatian government on Jan. 30, 2009, according to MOL’s website.

Over the past few years, INA has invested more than $170 million in the Sisak refinery to construct new processing units, including a $5 million replacement of coke chambers in April, all designed to improve crude processing efficiency as well as enable production of petroleum products that meet Euro 5 quality standards, INA said in an Apr. 16 release.

Other additions at the Sisak refinery in recent years include a desulfurization unit in 2007, an FCC unit in 2009, an isomerization unit in 2011, and a new wastewater treatment plant in 2013, according to INA’s website.