Gas Games Without Borders

Just when Minister Đuro Popijač thought of how to temporarily extricate the Government from the painful saga with Ina and Mol, the Hungarians ruined that too. The minister, pressed by media reports about the state hiding something, decisively sent a statement at nine in the morning that the Government would very gladly, in the spirit of transparency that has always characterized it, publish the main contract regarding the gas business it concluded with Mol, but that the other side would not allow it. The Hungarians sent a clear response by the end of the working day – we have nothing against it.

The Hungarians agreed to lift the confidentiality label back in July, except for the formula for calculating the gas price since Gazprom is a third party in the story. Although, that is not an unsolvable problem – it is enough to send an inquiry to Gazprom. While we eagerly await, unfortunately, we will not hear anything about gas from former Prime Minister Sanader in his testimony before the parliamentary Investigative Committee for Ina precisely because the confidentiality label has still not been lifted from that document.

But why has there been such a stir around this gas? Because we are talking about a business that, under current conditions and interpretations, does not bring profit but a loss estimated at two billion kuna. It is clear that no one wants that gift, but gas still needs to be delivered to consumers, so the two sides needed to agree on what to do. Given that the Government prefers the confidentiality of the details of these agreements, and considering its ‘track record’ in similar situations, it is quite easy to assume whose side the damage is on. After all, who is the Government hiding this contract from? Its own citizens?

What is known is that the Government has committed to take over the gas business from Ina and thus mitigate the losses of that segment of the business (because Ina buys Russian gas at a higher price than it sells it) until the gas price aligns with the market. If it does not purchase the gas business, the Government loses the right of first refusal on Mol’s shares in Ina, and Mol will not have the obligation of a five-year moratorium on the sale of those shares. A completely legitimate protection of its (Mol’s) interest.

Given the budgetary constraints and the complex relationships between the two shareholders in Ina, an agreement has been reached to postpone everything for now. As the extended deadline approaches, it will likely be postponed again. As well as the increase in the fee for the exploitation of mineral resources, which the state, given that it no longer has a majority stake in Ina, has no reason to keep unrealistically low. However, this delay is in Mol’s interest, so it will likely be diligently implemented. In the shadow of all these disputes, the price of gas has recently skyrocketed. So what? Surely Ina will not ‘subsidize’ Croatian consumers.