Hungarian part of the Board of Directors wanted to concentrate production operations in Rijeka.
Three Croatian representatives in the INA Board of Directors on Wednesday prevented the closure of the refinery in Sisak. At the dramatic session, they refused to vote on this agenda item, which meant there was no quorum so Hungarian members of the Board were unable to adopt the decision, reports Jutarnji List on July 28, 2016.
A few days ago, members of the Board received the agenda for the session. One of the points was the investment in the refinery in Rijeka, the concentration of oil refining processes in one refinery, and the establishment of a distribution and logistics centre in Sisak. The agenda alarmed Croatian members of the Board Niko Dalić, Ivana Krešić and Davor Mayer, who wanted the item to be removed from the agenda, but the Hungarian side persisted. Economy Minister Tomislav Panenić was informed about the issue.
At yesterday’s meeting of the Board, the item was included on the agenda thanks to the deciding vote of CEO Zoltan Aldott. However, when the item was put to a vote, Croatian members refused to vote and Áldott stopped the meeting.
Hungarian members requested that the Board approves funding in 2016 and 2017 for the modernization of the refinery in Rijeka, provided that oil processing at the Sisak refinery is stopped. However, Croatian side believes that MOL with this proposal does not guarantee the modernization of the refinery in Rijeka, while at the same time it is trying to stop production in Sisak. They believes that this is a decision which would be detrimental to the company and they do not want to vote for it.
“The closure of the refinery in Sisak is contrary to the interests of the company, and it is in doubt whether it is in accordance with the contract which has been signed between the shareholders”, said one source. According to the source, MOL has tried to implement its long-term plans about the closure of the refinery in Sisak, which were announced a year ago by CEO of MOL Zsolt Hernadi.
In the last several years, there have been various versions about what would happen in the future with today’s refinery in Sisak, from the establishment of a distribution and logistics centre to the establishment of a bio-refinery.
