Despite Hungarian majority stake, INA must sell all gas to Croatia
On Wednesday, the Croatian government decided that the Croatian oil company INA should sell all the gas produced in the country to the state-owned Croatian Electric Works (HEP) and increase its production by 10%, according to Croatian state television (HRT).
The economic and energy crisis is also a daily topic in Croatia, with which the government is constantly grappling. Recently, Croatian Economy and Energy Minister Davor Filipovic announced that a meeting of the Gas Supply Security Crisis Council had unanimously decided to propose to the government to increase production by 10% and to sell all gas produced exclusively to the Croatian Electric Works (HEP). The public electricity company will distribute and sell this gas to households, hospitals, kindergartens and other institutions, he added.
The measure comes into force on October 1 and will be effective until the end of March. According to the government decree, a natural gas producer will have to sell natural gas at 0.3425 kuna per kilowatt hour. The gas will be owned exclusively by HEP and will be made available to gas supply companies to cover losses.
The Croatian government has also announced that the Croatian oil multinational INA will be forced to increase its natural gas production by 10% compared to its planned production from October 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
The company is also required to sell all gas produced to Croatian Electricity.
INA’s situation is special because its majority shareholder is the Hungarian oil company Mol, with 49.08%, and Mol also holds the controlling rights. Only 44.84% of the company is owned by the Croatian state.
The Croatian government said it had already told Mol last week that it would take such a decision in order to protect Croatian households.
The INA reacted to the government’s decision in a statement, saying the company will respect all cabinet decisions on energy pricing, as it has done so far. Regarding the increase in production, INA will do everything within its technical and technological capacities to achieve the objective, they added, stressing that this means above all the putting into production of the deposits. and existing gas wells, for which the necessary permits are pending.
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