CROATIAN OIL COMPANY SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH AMERICAN COMPANIES

ZAGREB, Dec 19 (Hina) - The Croatian oil company INA, the American governmental company Trade and Development Agency (TDA), and the American company ABB Lummus Global on Wednesday signed an agreement on conducting projects for the modernisation of two INA refineries - in Rijeka and Sisak. The studies are worth US$720,000, wherein the TDA's share amounts to US#410,000, the ABB Lummus Global's to US$180,000, and INA's to US$130,000. The studies should be completed by April 2002 and help the INA management in decision-making and finding optimal solutions for the modernisation of the refineries. President of INA's management, Tomislav Dragicevic, assessed the project very valuable to the company which needed to modernise refineries in order to be able to produce petroleum products according to European standards. American Ambassador to Croatia Lawrence Rossin said the agreement with INA was the first agreement which the TDA signed with a big Croatian state-owned company since it had opened its offices in Zagreb. Next year, the American government will organise a conference on energetics in Washington, with a particular reference to Croatia and a wish to attract attention to the development of the sector. Rossin believes INA was an attractive partner for American companies. (hina) np sb