INA: MARKET PRICING NEED NOT RESULT IN HIGHER PRICES OF OIL PRODUCTS

ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - Any discussion about possible prices of oil products on the Croatian market before the adoption of market pricing mechanisms is guesswork without any real basis, and market pricing need not result in higher prices of oil products, Tomislav Dragicevic, head of the Croatian Oil Industry (INA) management board, said on Tuesday. Dragicevic was commenting on media speculations that INA would increase the prices of oil products once the model of market pricing is introduced. The introduction of market pricing for oil, oil products and natural gas "does not necessarily mean higher prices for those products at the moment, and the prices of some products could decrease, which will depend on the said parameters which are important for market pricing," said Dragicevic. INA is not advocating an increase in prices but the introduction of a market model of pricing, he said. The most important thing for INA is that the government has not made a false promise when on several occasions it stated that it would not conduct its welfare policy through lower prices of oil products and gas. Due to a difference between the real and adopted price INA has lost almost 2.4 billion dollars this year alone and in order to survive under such conditions it has stopped all investments except for environmental ones, he said. (hina) rml