Štern: Aldott left because the Hungarians wanted a new INA

The closure of the Sisak refinery is one of the more important issues in the relations between the Republic of Croatia and MOL. The announcement by the new director of INA, Sandor Fasimon, that the refinery will be closed surprised Tomislav Ćorić, the Minister of Environment and Energy, who believes that the refinery business must remain and that unilateral moves in this case are unacceptable.

>>>Fasimon announced the closure of the Sisak refinery, Ćorić surprised

Zoltan Aldott, the former CEO of INA, who unexpectedly resigned, had announced the construction of a logistics center and a biorefinery at the site of the Sisak refinery, which would be significantly smaller but still operational. He delayed the closure of the refinery, which may not have been acceptable to the Hungarians.

The question arises whether one of the reasons for Aldott’s departure was that he did not want to do what the new management is now doing. We asked Davor Štern, the former CEO of INA and an oil expert, about this and the issue of closing the Sisak refinery.

Štern believes that all the unpleasant events surrounding INA have nothing to do with Aldott’s departure from the top position of the company.

– Aldott left because the Hungarians wanted a new INA. He had been in that position for a long time, at INA since 2003, and is the longest-serving director of INA – said Štern.

He emphasized that the refinery will close if a strategic partner who has its own oil available to the Sisak pipeline does not come. However, he leaves room for this not to happen if ‘the state concludes that this is a political issue’.

He added that if Rosneft became a strategic partner, the Sisak refinery would not be redundant because that group produces a lot of oil and needs new refining capacities.