ZAGREB, January 19, 2018 – The INA oil company has proposed organisational changes in the Sisak refinery which envisage the transport of products between the Sisak and Rijeka refineries and closing the FCC plant in the Sisak refinery, which will result in a maximum 40 layoffs in the second half of the year, INA said on Friday.
The proposal is in line with a Deloitte analysis made public last year and is based on a transitional solution envisaging product transport and the closing of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) plant to enhance the usability of conversion plants in both refineries, a press release said.
Last year’s Deloitte analysis, as all previous ones, shows that the conversion of the Sisak refinery into a logistics centre is the most cost-effective solution whose implementation would yield 93 million US dollars in the next three years, INA said, adding that the proposed work model for the Sisak refinery was a step towards significantly cutting its losses.
These changes do not envisage other decisions regarding the future of the Sisak refinery, INA said.
As for the layoffs due to the closure of the FCC plant, a decision will be made by the management which will try to reassign them elsewhere in INA, while those who cannot be reassigned will receive severance packages significantly above the Croatian average, INA said.
The question of the future of the refinery in Sisak is one of the leading stumbling blocks between the two principal owners of INA, the Croatian government and the Hungarian oil company MOL. MOL wants to close down the refinery in Sisak and concentrate on the other refinery in Rijeka, while the government fears that such a decision would bring economic disaster to Sisak and the surrounding area, given that the refinery is the major employer in the region.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday the INA oil company’s decision to shut down the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) plant in the Sisak refinery was a business decision to make INA more efficient, adding that the government was proceeding with the buyout of Hungarian energy group MOL’s stake in INA.
Asked by the press about INA’s organisational changes in the Sisak refinery which envisage closing the FAA plant and up to 40 layoffs, Plenković said, “This has been known for a long time based on certain studies which INA commissioned. It concerns about 40 people.” These are business decisions INA is making to be more efficient, he added.
He said the government was proceeding with the buyout of MOL’s stake in INA and with an integral approach to INA’s functioning as a vertically integrated company, taking into account the Sisak and Rijeka refineries.
Plenković was speaking to the press after meeting with the heads of his HDZ party’s 21 committees.
