Earlier on Tuesday, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL stated that it had given up on its plan for the extraordinary meeting of INA shareholders to vote on an extraordinary dividend payout of 2 billion kuna, explaining that declining oil prices could negatively affect the operations of the Croatian oil and gas company.
"On behalf of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited company we would like to inform the Management Board of INA Industrija nafte d.d. that, due to the falling oil price and its potential negative effect on INA, MOL as a responsible shareholder has suspended its request to convoke an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of INA with the agenda of extraordinary payout of dividends," MOL said in a statement sent to INA.
Croatia's minister perceives this as signals that the Hungarian company wanted to become a responsible partner.
MOL holds a 49.1% stake in INA, while the Croatian state, as the second biggest stakeholder, has an interest of 44.84%.
Vrdoljak said that over the past 18 months his ministry had tried to explain to MOL that Croatia needed a serious strategic partner.
The Hungarian company in November 2014 asked INA's management board to call a special meeting of the company's shareholders to vote on the payment of dividends in the amount of 2 billion kuna or 260 million euros from retained profits.
MOL said at the time that it was making the request because it had saved INA from bankruptcy, financially stabilised the company and turned it into a profitable business with significant investment potential, and that following a decision by the Croatian Economy Ministry to revoke INA's exploration licences for the Sava and Northwestern Croatia blocks, the shareholders had realised that the ministry did not support an investment-friendly environment in Croatia and that time had come for the shareholders to claim back their previous investments.